Ferrari driver Felipe Massa says that he has told fellow Brazilian driver Rubens Barrichello that he should quit at the end of the season, rather than demeaning himself chasing sponsors to hold onto an Formula One drive.
Barrichello has insisted that he will not treat this weekend's Brazilian Grand Prix as a swansong race in the sport, despite ongoing doubts over his F1 future.Williams are known to be in discussions with a number of drivers over their second seat alongside Pastor Maldonado in 2012, including 2007 world champion Kimi Raikkonen.
The Raikkonen deal is believed to hinge partly on a new sponsorship deal for the team, which would help them to pay the Finn's salary, while it has also been suggested that the team could be chasing a second paydriver alongside Maldonado.
And Massa has suggested that Barrichello should not be worrying himself chasing sponsors after his "dream" F1 career to date, spanning 19 consecutive seasons.
"I did give him an advice: to quit," Massa told the TotalRace website when asked whether he had any advice for his countryman.
"To me, Barrichello had an incredible career in F1: the driver who competed in most GPs and with many wins under his belt. It is a career most drivers would dream to have."
He went on: "He raced for the best teams in F1. I haven't advise him to quit because I feel he is old or something like that. But today in F1 there are 12 teams, and five or six are asking for money to give a seat. I think this is absurd.
"My opinion, which I told him, is that I can't see Barrichello searching for sponsors to race after all he had achieved in F1.
"I told him to quit and to use this last race to have a proper ending. But I know he will do what he thinks is the best for him and, as a friend, I will support him and hoping for the best for him."
Should Barrichello fail to hold onto a Williams drive, his alternative options for 2012 are limited.
Force India and Toro Rosso are yet to confirm their driver line-ups, but will certainly choose from their own internal shortlists of drivers.
Aside from Williams, the only teams yet to confirm their 2012 line-ups are Renault, HRT and Virgin.
Of those, Renault are leaning towards Romain Grosjean as a replacement for the still-injured Robert Kubica, while Virgin are reportedly close to confirming Charles Pic alongside Timo Glock.
That would only leave HRT as an option for Barrichello, with the Spanish team already having confirmed Pedro de la Rosa in one seat, and likely to want a paydriver alongside him.
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