Massa: The title is Brawn's to lose Saturday 28th March 2009-PlanetF1.com Felipe Massa has warned that Brawn GP will win the Championship by the halfway stage of the season unless F1 finds a way of slowing them down - or belatedly catching up. In a remarkably gloomy prognosis that will be interpreted as a message to the FIA ahead of their hearing to determine the legality of the Brawn GP's diffusers, Massa predicted that the season would quickly become a procession if Brawn maintain their pace. The team's two drivers, Jenson Button and Rubens Barrichello, blew the rest of the field away in Saturday's Australian GP qualifying, half a second ahead of their nearest rival. "Yes," Massa told Autosport when asked if Brawn GP were in a league of their own. "If they carry on like that, they'll win the Championship in the middle of the year." As for his own qualifying performance, the 2008 runner-up finished down in seventh place, having predicted that he could at least make it into the top five. "We always expected a little bit better, but not a lot," he said. "We expected a tight qualifying. This morning I thought top five would have been possible, but very difficult. But it was not possible. "Anyway, if you see the difference between the third and myself is quite small, so it means we need to see the fuel levels. "But anyway, it was a big difference to the guys in front." But the Brazilian isn't yet ready to write off his chances of a victory in Sunday's grand prix. "I am confident. I believe in my team. I know we can do it, so we need to work very hard," he added. "It won't be easy, especially when you start like that and you have cars in front of you with better pace. "That's why we need to work very hard, but I trust the team and I trust myself." But while Ferrari struggled, last year's title rivals McLaren did even worse with Heikki Kovalainen and Lewis Hamilton qualify 14th and 15th respectively. However, it was of little consolation to the frustrated Massa. "We are not racing against McLaren, we are racing against everybody, so it doesn't change anything to fight with McLaren or to fight with another team. Every team who has a competitive car can fight to win the race and the championship so... "It's always a bit of a surprise, but we have so much to do that we better concentrate on ourselves."
This is what I like about Massa, candid and to the point. I somehow cannot see the F1 NOT banning that defuser thought know I see there have been protests about Ferrari's rear wing. As an aside am I the only that thinks this years cars are very ugly...all this fidding by Max and Bernie has really mad me loose interest in F1. At least if Danica arrives next year there will be some interest....(most of America seens to not like her, but there is no denying she has worked hard to get where she is and is a great drawcard) Of course I hav now wondered totally off topic...
Massa is just setting the stage for the FIA hearings in April. A little early to hand Brawn the title already. However if Brawn ends up with the title, some Honda CEOs will do the honorable thing... He is not candid. He is a spokesperson for Ferrari touting the company line. As soon as Ferrari has the same diffuser, he'll be praising it. Alonso, JPM and Jacques Villeneuve, those guys are outspoken and candid.
Well I think being that honest is being pretty candid...I would prefer to call the above drivers controversial rather than candid...
I guess all those years of FIA assisting Ferrari in their goal to win the championship was ok. So what if Brawn wins it by the middle of the year, good for them for having the creativity of doing the Aero Correct (i.e. Diffuser), if the FIA get involved and ban it or create trouble, I would love to see Toyota leave F1 as they and Williams have one of those diffusers. Frankly it is a bit of fresh air that some of these other minnow teams have a chance and the established order seems to have been rocked. What I don't like is Ferrari crying foul when someone creative comes up with a faster car and they whine like *****es to the FIA.
Problem with the diffuser is the teams using it are the teams that weren't part of the overtaking group. Those that were sought clarification whether they could do that or not and were told no! All the "creative idea" talk is just PR. All the teams considered that diffuser treatment. Thats why Red Bull has protested to seek clarification. Ferrari isn't doing anything so far to justify the language Senna1994 uses.
i think it was a fair prediction by Massa, but of course we have to wait a bit more to see their performance.
Good evening Tony. I cant see them letting any team win it more than 2 races before the end of the season. We would be right back to the MS days and that is exactly what they dont want. The Brawn difuser will either be banned or all will be allowed to have it.
The diffuser designs, at least Brawn's, were approved before they even got to Melbourne. It's not until the other teams realized that Brawn, Williams, and Toyota had a better pace, that they protested the design.
She's worked hard to promote herself and her bod. There are many, many more US drivers that have worked harder at racing than she has. Unfortunately, the European press could care less about the potential of US drivers... unless they look good in a bikini.
Interesting how people read between the lines in a manner to support their on predjudice. Massa just made a simple black and white statement, just as he usually does. He candidly and truthfully answered someone's question. I see nothing political about his answer. So if the question was asked of you, and you were a driver on the grid of this race, how would you have answered?? I think Massa's answer was an accurate prediction at this point.
Like a little detail like that would stop the FIA from banning it Not that I'm expecting them to do it. Bernie and Max are talking about a two tiered spec system already so who knows?
The Ferrari flexi-floor was technically legal in but was banned after Australia '07......Briatore says the spirit of the new rules were to lessen the downforce, and that is exactly what most of the teams with the "standard" diffusers did save for Brawn, Toyota and Williams....this is how I see the FIA banning the new diffusers, saying it violates the spirit of the rules; in any event I would allow additional testing for teams to develop diffusers whichever way the FIA ultimately rules...
+1 A few here just need to look in the mirror and admit they dont like Massa and simply cannot answer anything about him objectively. Very sad considering that he drives for Ferrari and that last year HE WAS FERRARI. The diffuser issue will get worked out and no matter what I think, Massa didnt infer or speak as if the FIA should ban it.
Does anyone else find that it's rather convenient that THOSE three teams managed to come up with this mysterious diffuser? Are there any conspiracy theories going around that would contribute to the "entertainment" value of this circus? The FIA tries their best to "script" something that will stir up the norm.
Brawn: 18 points Ferrari: 0 points Massa wasn't talking BS at all. Over the race distance the Brawn did constantly well und Button could control his pace comfortable.
100% precise. Massa is simply posturing for his team. Ferrari thought they could finish 3-4 and if the diffuser teams get DQ'd, they'd inherit the win. Didn't happen that way, but it'll be interesting to see what happens.
That is the problem and it has been with Ferrari for the last several years, if they can't win the race on merit, they expect to DQ the competition. Maybe LDM should DQ himself for not keeping Brawn.
In all fairness McLaren for instance has been doing exactly the same thing. Remember the barge board case? They didn't protest against Ferrari until Ferrari started running away. Then they tried to get Ferrari DQed etc. I have no problem with that kind of behavior. It is F1 after all. The Piranha Club, remember? It just find it a tad naive when folks call Massa "candid". He is anything but. He is just touting the company line. Here is what a candid Massa would sound like: "Our aerodynamicst for the back end of the car didn't realize that there was a loophole in the regulations. Because of that we totally missed the boat in developing the ingenious diffuser Brawn came up with. Also we were dumb enough to put our money on KERS and it got us no advantage. Unlike Brawn who use that weight to balance the car instead. In fact we were dishonest about KERS all along: When our first system designed by Magnetti Marelli didn't pan out, we openly declared not to use it. Then we made a second version, which worked better and we broke the promise we made to the other teams. Now we will try to get the diffusers banned. If we don't accomplish that, we will be in a world of trouble as we have to redevelop a new rear end and it might be too late for that. So instead we rather bad mouth the solution. Hopefully if and when we get the new car and diffuser, it will be good enough for a victory. At that point I will be happily praise it."
Isn't anyone but me happy that we finally had an enjoyable and exciting race to watch. Maybe Ferrari wasn't in the hunt - but this was the first race that I watched all the way through without Tivo'ing past the middle 25 laps. Don't care what happens with the diffusors, the drama, or Bernie...Just happy to see some fun back in the sport
You're not alone. There are many folks on here who just loved this race, me included. Having a great F1 race to me is a lot more important than to see my team win. Best part for me was, that passing is possible again. No more procession races.
Interesting observation, I personally think with all these rule changes, not just this year but in the past F1 has lost all credibility, to me its just a case making money to will Mr E and Mr M's bank account.....
