Per Autosport: "They are 50/50. Everybody thought that Kimi was coming to Ferrari and staying ahead and being number one and now everybody's realised that Felipe is very quick as well. So for me it is not a surprise - either one of them can win. "
Two points: a) Alonso knows how to play the game and irritate an opponent by downplaying him in the media. He also knows by making such a statement, he feeds Massa's ego and potentially creates havoc in the Scuderia. b) If the Scuderia buys this, then it would mean no team orders, which is the best situation for Alonso. Alonso (like any other smart top racer) doesn't make these kind of statements for no reason. It is to cause a reaction. One that favors his chances.
Ferrari already confirmed that their drivers are free to race. I do believe however that Alonso is making these remarks with some sort of agenda. If Kimi doesn´t beat Massa on a regular base in the first couple of races, it´ll probably affect his mental approach, which would eliminate one obstacle in Alonso´s third title. And Alonso knows that.
Or, make KR push that much harder until he ends up in a wall or shaking the car pieces. Either way, FA gets the result he wants. Although I must say, I am impressed with Massa so far in testing. I've liked him for a while now but did not expect this kind of testing performance from him. I think he's closer to KR than most gave him credit for...but the true test starts in two weeks. Mark
Testing is testing and racing is racing. We all know how each performs in racing and Massa (I do like him and root for him) just lack the balls in certain situations. This could of course give the door to Kimi or anyone else. If Massa doesn't qualify in front then he wont be leading. I hoped he has improved in that situation. Alonso needs all he needs for an advantage. Hopes and wishes may be the glue to keep that McLaren together this season.
Just amazing to me that none of you can acknowledge what most of the insiders I know within F1 have acknowledged, and that is that Massa and Ferrari is the team to beat in 2007. All of these excuses that Alonso is playing mind games, are BS. Trying to follow in the shoes of Michael Schumacher is a real bummer, so to think that Massa could deliver is alien to some of your thought processes. Everyone assumes the Kimi is better. This is a fresh slate, everything is basically all new for 2007. And no one is putting down Raikkonen's ability by saying Massa is faster to date, I would suggest that people watching from the pits as to what has transpired so far in practice are elevating Massa's position to where it belongs. Many of you are just missing the point. What is really funny is that I remember similar comments about a young James Hunt, Jody Scheckter, and even Michael Schumacher's detractors in the early years made such baseless assumptions. Talking to the wall.
Ferrari has always been the team "to beat" in F1...even when they were losing everyone still wanted to finish ahead of the red cars. But, since 2005 Alonso has been the driver to beat and that will be difficult with McLaren in 2007 IMHO...
Kimi will do fine this year. He will be in a reliable car and will finish a lot more races this year compared to last.
Here's another angle--Alonso steps forward and makes a comment, which keeps the McLaren spotlight on him rather than Hamilton. It reinforces his position as the team leader, which is good for everyone at the team. Don't forget Dennis' comments a couple weeks ago about restricting access to Hamilton. I'm not saying these words aren't Alonso's, but don't underestimate the PR juggernaut of McLaren. They're worse than the Republicans.
I'm with Jack on this one. By the way who cares what the other drivers say about Kimi, lets wait until Melbourne and go from there.
well, we don't really know if the car will be reliable as before since a lot of if not most of the folks who made it so reliable before...are now gone...
That may or may not be true, but are the people who made the McLaren/MB so unreliable still there? That should be Alonso's biggest concern.....
My feeling on McLaren is that they put in so much effort at the end of 05 to win the championship for KR and Constructors, that the 06 car suffered as a result. It is the samething that happened to them against the Williams Renault in 91, they didn't have a chance then to develop the 92 Car because they wanted to win the Championship so bad in 91. Unfortunately for McLaren, in 05 they had the fastest car but they couldn't take it away from Renault. I think they probably started development on the 07 car pretty early since they weren't in the running in 06. Now with Newey and staff gone a year, I think the staff has probably gelled and they will do fine this year. The only reservation I have is the Engines, probably with the 19,000RPM limit, they will be ok.
+1 Also I think their new building (forgot the weird name something Paradigme) took some of Ron's focus away. I think you make a very important point about the rev limit. That might be just the saving grace for Merc. Which is really a sad statement for F1.
HI Gang, I was reading Alonso's, comments today on Speed TV's site, and he had these interesting comments to make. At this time he considers Ferrari, to be a step ahead of everybody and the drivers are equal, 50/50 on the Scuderia. http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/formulaone/35725/ Ciao...Paolo
Don't want to sound out of line, but please read the thread before commenting; this is exactly what we are discussing. Mark
And which is why I lose interest a little more every year; I hate the limitations on engines....what's next, Holly carbs? Cast iron blocks? If they were serious about slowing the cars, change the aeros; maybe the cars would become good looking again instead of looking like ricers. What's really sad is that MB for all its experience, technological prowess, etc. couldn't build a reliable F1 powerplant.....
EXACTLY! I did! This was another source for the story and thought it relavent in this discussion and others may want to read the interview from another source, than those quoted. That's why I posted the link to SpeedTV, as I didn't see reference to it in these comments, here today. Just more information on Alonso's comments. Ciao...Paolo
Most of the people are gone? 2 (Schumi and Brawn) out of about 400+ staff is far from "most", don't you think? The engineers (including R. Byrne), the mechanics (including Stepney), the test drivers and Massa are all still there.
The people who didn't notice last year how fast Massa was last year are a bit surprised now. I was really impressed by his speed in testing last year and suspected he would be fast during the season. He was a bit erratic in the first half of the season, but after he changed his race engineer mid-season, he really progressed. Don't forget that he completely dominated the Euro F3000 championship in his first season at age 19 - he is talented. As for the testing times, Massa was regularly faster than Schumi last winter (see below), so we know to take these times with a grain of salt. But regardless, he was fast - faster than Barrichello ever was - and I'm certain this was one of the considerations that led Schumi to retire. As for Raikkonen, he didn't just suddenly forget how to drive - as recently as 2005 (the year of Alonso's first WDC), Autosport named him Driver of the year! Pre-2006 season testing: Sakhir, Bahrain Track length: 5.41 km 1. Massa Ferrari 1:29.958 2. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:30.375 Valencia Track length: 4.005 km Interesting detail, McLaren were also quite quick in testing at Mickey-Mouse Valencia circuit last winter and then went on to win... nothing. 1. Raikkonen McLaren 1:09.983 13. Massa Ferrari 1:11.284 14. M.Schumacher Ferrari 1:11.649
