Felipe Massa**Spoilers**

Maybe, maybe not. Was it not you that did many, many posts last year about "withholding prejudgement" on Ron Dennis & company during the Stepneygate?

I am no fan of Massa, but if we want Ferrari to do well this year, then it is a sequiter that we should hope for Massa to do well. How are you going to replace this level of driver in mid season?

Or, did I hear someone mumble "Scott Speed" under their breath?

 

nail on the head!

I think it speaks a lot to self confidence, and I think Massa sorely lacks it. He knows he's not that good and he's trying desperately to cling to his ride and his position. Why else would he try to win the race at turn 1? Kimi has confidence. he knows he's good and he knows he has 60-some laps to gain a second or two. Felipe knows he's got one shot.

One is a racer and a WDC the other is an untalented never-was trying to be something he's not.

IMO

 

More desperate looking to me than spinning out of second place. Kimi's response was perfect, essentially saying "Massa made a stupid move, so
I decided to wait until later to pass him for the win." I'll bet Kimi's reaction chaps Massa's ass almost as much as spinning out of the points unaided.

 

Good point, and I think this is why Ted, I and others were against signing him again. It was not an enlightened knowledge of F1 or anything like that, but simply a review of his past and inference about his future. Some others were pushing that Massapeal article as gospel, that Massa was schumi's prodigy and conditioned himself into a WDC level driver. Others didn't buy it.

And now, what is Ferrari to do? Badoer is one of the few who'se actually worse than Felipe, and the good-but-not-yet-proven guys like Rosberg and Vettel are under contract and probably not close to being available, especially mid-season. I'm really not sure what Ferrari could do, other than a driver swap with a sack of cash to go along with it to a team that really needs the money.

 

All correct, of course. And I will just bet that some Ferrari team strategists are having him look at the vidotape again and again (like the Honda guy did James Garner in the film Grand Prix). Probably there is a little exchange of understanding the concept of "teamwork" and some suitable male bonding going on there, too.

Like I said, I don't see how they are going to replace him right now (please don't anybody start with Michael Shumaker-) so they are probably just going to have to manage him for the best team results.

Bad start, but after all, he did not totally destroy last season for them -

 

Why not someone who is already getting on in years with a relatively lackluster carreer... Trulli?

 

Ferrari insist they are not concerned about Felipe Massa's disastrous start to the season, despite the Brazilian throwing away second place in the Malaysian Grand Prix.

Massa ran wide at Turn 6 halfway through the race at Sepang.

When he clouted a kerb it stalled the car's aerodynamics and caused him to lose control of the rear at the following turn - pitching him off the track and into a gravel trap.

Following on from his retirement in Australia, where he spun at the first corner before an engine failure put him out, Massa has failed to score any points so far this year.

But Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali has said there is no panic about Massa, and he is confident the Brazilian can bounce back in Bahrain.

"It's true that it's two no scores that are important in both the drivers' and the constructors' championships," said Domenicali.

"But on the other hand we must not over-dramatize: the points table is close after two Grands Prix. I'm convinced that from Felipe's and our point of view, a response won't go amiss in Bahrain."

Domenicali also made it clear that he did not think Massa was suffering from the pressure put on him by Kimi Raikkonen.

"I don't want to talk about this matter because Felipe did an extraordinary qualifying lap in Malaysia. Having seen on what lap he pitted compared to the others, you can work out that his lap was really unique.

"So Felipe has all the qualities and the capabilities to do well. The championship is long and the team are united, so I see no worries from this aspect."

Domenicali said the team will make sure the spin was not caused by a mechanical failure.

"We'll analyze that. At the moment we have to look at all the data. I think the car has just come back from parc ferme, so we'll have a look. But it's clear that the thing that characterized that excursion was the fact that he went over the kerb."

 

Pretty much.
At this level ,as in most sports, this is a mental activity.
Strangely enough Massa's own need to dominate pushed him over the edge and needlessly so.
The next races there will be even more desperation as Kimis lead increased, causing even more mistakes. A vicious circle.
Ferrai should have given orders to him to cool it. All they were doing is racing each other and wearing out equipment for the next race.
Kimis times dropped 1 sec after Massa exited. Kimi was going to take this unless Massa forced a mistake. Why the hell would you force a mistake on your "team-mate" unless you felt you were superior or more deserving.
As far as skills, Massa has them or else he wouldnt be in Ferrari. Thats a fact.
However Kimi being the "ice-man" has a cooler head and is more self assured.
Massa is the hot head. Time to chill. If he cant control himself then whoever is running the team this week has to call for it.

 

Alonso also played down rumours linking him again to the Ferrari team, saying it was normal following Massa's difficult start to the season.

"It's early to talk about moves and rumours, but Massa has had two bad races with mistakes and that has kicked off speculations about Vettel or about me. It's logical, but as I said, it's too early."

 

According to Dietrich, he's dispelled any persisting rumors about Vettel to Ferrari now or in 2009.

Even though the Austrian billionaire intends to sell his Red Bull stake in Gerhard Berger's team next year, Mateschitz rubbished speculation that the prized young German driver is also on the move.

He said there is no link between the rumours and the fact that Ferrari is Toro Rosso's engine supplier. First, we pay for our Ferrari engines. Secondly, we did not want even Alonso if it is just for one year.

We have supported (Vettel) for six or seven years, even when BMW temporarily borrowed him. I don't like to talk about contractual details.

But one thing is clear: with Sebastian we have a long term contract. It also emerged on the sidelines of the Malaysian grand prix that, while Sebastien Bourdais signed a one-year Toro Rosso contract for 2008, Vettel's deal is solely with the energy drink Red Bull.

Someone even suggested Marco Andretti - yeah right - his future is in sportscar racing after his brilliant performance in his dad's Acura at Sebring a week ago Saturday.

Carol

 

Ron, that article has been posted at least twice now. I say its a nice PR spin on saying "Hey Massa screwed up." but lets assume ok he hit that kerb a bit too hard and it upset the car's aero balance and he came in with no rear grip and spun it.... Its still spinning it. Its just... finding out exactly where he screwed up. Is it the kerb's fault that Massa hit it and beached the car?


Monaco '07 everyone on this site, save for a few of us, wanted Kimi's head on a platter for screwing up QUALIFYING by "clipping" something. Mass does it in a race and spins out, while racing his WDC teammate, i might add, and people get mad that we're "attacking him"?

 

And SRT Mike; Is it possible to treat people nicely ?
You have great and valid points.
Why must you go for the entrails every time ?

 

I mean no offense to anyone and try to take none either.

 

Felipe Massa Career Highlights:
1999 Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Champion
2000 Italian Formula Renault Champion
2000 European Formula Renault Champion
2001 European Formula 3000 Champion
2002 Signed by Sauber
2006 Signed by Ferrari as Shumi's teamate
2006 Started 21st, finished 3rd at the Malaysian F1 race passing and finishing in front of Shumi
2006 Finished 3rd in the WDC behind Shumi and Alonso

 

You forgot these:

Felipe Massa Career Highlights:
1999 Brazilian Formula Chevrolet Champion
2000 Italian Formula Renault Champion
2000 European Formula Renault Champion
2001 European Formula 3000 Champion
2002 Signed by Sauber
2002: Beaten by teammate
2002: Fired by Sauber, forced into test driver role
2003: Consistently posts slower time to team's other test driver.
2004: Beaten by teammate
2005: Beaten by teammate
2006 Signed by Ferrari as Shumi's teamate
2006 Started 21st, finished 3rd at the Malaysian F1 race passing and finishing in front of Shumi
2006 Finished 3rd in the WDC behind Shumi and Alonso[/QUOTE]
2006: Beaten by teammate
2006: Ferrari fails to win WCC due to Massa finishing 9th in 3 races, producing no points
2007: Rookie Hamilton forces Massa into error, losing position. Made to look like a fool by rookie.
2007: Beaten by teammate
2007: Massa fails to earn enough points on track to deliver WCC, Ferrari later earns title after McLaren performance is vacated by stewards and FIA Council
2008: Massa spins off track in unforced error on second turn of first lap. Later collides with DC in yet another ill-conceived overtaking event.
2008: Massa yest again throws away poleposition, second straight DNF due to unforced error


Nice of you to reference one race's results. For every race result you can list, I can list 8 where he either crashed, was soundly beaten by his teammate, or threw away valuable points and finishing positions due to stupidity and/or lack of talent.

 

bingo!

 

here's the spin.

http://rapidshare.com/files/102068687/massa.spin.mov.html

 

Well, Kimi wasn't exactly cruising before Massa pitted, or after.
The impetus to win is the principal driving force.

Someone was saying Massa's ego is the problem - yes, and it is also the solution.

 

2006: Beaten by teammate
2006: Ferrari fails to win WCC due to Massa finishing 9th in 3 races, producing no points
2007: Rookie Hamilton forces Massa into error, losing position. Made to look like a fool by rookie.
2007: Beaten by teammate
2007: Massa fails to earn enough points on track to deliver WCC, Ferrari later earns title after McLaren performance is vacated by stewards and FIA Council
2008: Massa spins off track in unforced error on second turn of first lap. Later collides with DC in yet another ill-conceived overtaking event.
2008: Massa yest again throws away poleposition, second straight DNF due to unforced error


Nice of you to reference one race's results. For every race result you can list, I can list 8 where he either crashed, was soundly beaten by his teammate, or threw away valuable points and finishing positions due to stupidity and/or lack of talent.[/QUOTE]

Again, I have never stated that I am a Massa fan. I was just pointing out some of his career highlights. I only pointed out Malaysia because it was his second race with Ferrari and he was fantastic in that race and appeared worth every dime at that point. The press raved and thought that he may be better than Shumi after that race. It goes to show, that what have you done for me lately, is all anyone ever remembers. Notice that I didn't list his wins. And Sauber rehired him after he was supposedly fired, while still performing testing. This was precipitated by his FIA suspension, which led to his termination as the "Race driver". He also consistently out paced Gilles kid at Sauber as well. Certainly there are several drivers with better credentials, but it's not like hiring Coultard...lol

 

I realize that it is useless to discuss this topic logically. People are getting nasty, and about what? Something they can not control, something they know nothing about first hand. You can conveniently call this article "a spin" if you wish Lindsay. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. You really don't know and are just guessing. Like everyone else. Like in politics, sometimes it is best to address an issue before the rumors cause more damage than reality. I just posted it in this thread because I thought relevant to the discussion. Sorry if that offended anyone.

If the team principles had an issue with Kimi and Phil racing each other Sunday, you can bet Luca would have placed a cell phone call to Baldessari or Domenicali and told them to change the strategy pronto. Do not forget, there are team orders, especially at Ferrari. It was made public before the race that they would let the two of them race as long as there was no danger of wrecking each other. So please do not complain about them racing, they weren't stopped from doing so for a reason.

I think it best that a wait and see attitude is best. So far no one here, including me, has the first hand credibility to say anything for certain so all of this venting has accomplished nothing more than to create some bad feelings on the forum. My friend is not named Luca, Jean, or Stephano, so he hears it on the factory grapevine. I also think we have had enough Massa threads to last the next two seasons. The next person to start another is just being silly.

I stick by my comment from about six posts ago, if you have been around long enough, you have seen many soon-to-be, even already have been, WDC's spin out, and wreck cars. Even the greats that never were WDC, those heros did their share of sideline dancing. Even Schumacher wrecked cars, once enough to injure himself and and need a replacement. Senna, Prost, Alonso, all of them have lost it a few times. Kind of happens when you are on the edge. The same corner at a track can change from lap to lap, someone drops a bit of oil, gravel gets kicked onto the racing surface, asphalt bleeds, the sun comes out or disappears, a tire begins to deflate, many reasons. Is that too logical or difficult for anyone to understand? Luckily those guys under that red canopy know this, so they don't go off and castrate a driver on a whim.

So I am not at all concerned, YET, about Massa. He is still one of the four fastest drivers at every race, and I believe one that will learn from his mistakes. If he doesn't let the first two races get to him, he will come back strong. I have no idea why anyone is bashing him at this point, I find that premature and ludicrous, but then, that is just my opinion. Certainly the way Ferrari operates today the management is giving him pep talks, not threats.

And irrespective of Ted's negatives about Massa's past history, some of which if all the facts were given were real stretches of the truth, to make his post credible he should have listed all of Massa positives, and there are many.

I also think it best to leave these threads to those of you that need to vent your hostility.

 

Unfortunately, David, for him it is not possible and I am not his only victim. I would hope he's aware of internet harrassment and that it carries criminal penalties.

Carol

 

What Ferrari thinks internally isn't actually as forgiving as what they stated in autosport. Massa has to deliver or he'll be out of a seat before his contract is over. Trust me.

 

good news, indeed.

 

Bottom line is that Massa got the Ferrari seat because of his manager being Todt's son and because Schumi always wanted a controllable #2. Like any #2 at Ferrari he is not there because he is a WDC in the making, but a water carrier for the #1 driver. The only reason anybody ever saw anything else in him is because some die-hard Schumacher fans want to believe in a "blood line" a la Da Vinci code in which the Holy grail of racing craft has been passed from Schumacher to Schumassa. Romantic nonsense.

With no protection from Todt anymore, how much longer will he keep his seat? My crystal ball says until the end of this season, then he'll be sitting his contract out in a Toro Rosso or Farce India, rides more suitable to his talents.

 

That's your occidental opinion, with some sadistic streaks at that. Believe it or not, some of us don't dig MS,
nor Hollywood, but happen to like the way Massa drives, better than some of your heroes.


>of racing craft has been passed from Schumacher to Schumassa. Romantic nonsense.

Yet, you always fall for the romantic stuff.
It is why you like Kimi, why you like LH, why you like Ferrari (bks of F1) etc.
That's precisely what Massa is lacking - he's too quotidian for you.

However, I agree that he needs to get it together.