Monday 24 March at 12:26 : Felipe Massa's newly married wife was unimpressed with speculation linking her husband with an early exit from Ferrari.

It has been rumoured all week in Malaysia that, despite the Brazilian driver's ongoing contract with the Italian team, Sebastian Vettel or Fernando Alonso are in fact more likely to be driving the red car in 2009.

On live Brazilian television, Rafaela Bassi-Massa blankly labelled the gossip as "bullshit".

Former grand prix winner Ralf Schumacher, though, predicts a tough couple of weeks for the 26-year-old, after his spins in Melbourne and Malaysia and heading to Bahrain with a points tally of zero.

"It is certainly going to be very difficult for Felipe, because, especially in Italy, the media is explosive," the DTM driver told the German newspaper Bild.

Schumacher thinks Massa is now very much Ferrari's 'number two' driver.

Former triple world champion Niki Lauda, meanwhile, thinks it is possible that Massa's car was to blame for his terminal Sepang spin.

"But if he has made a mistake two races in a row, it is brainless," the great Austrian said.