The Felipe supporters thread!......

SRTMike:

I admire your efforts, but don't waste your time on this.

Massa is done for. The few who still believe in him will always do so, no matter what results he produces or doesn't.

Ferrari will ditch him sooner or later. We two have a bet going and I'll probably loose this one as I was 100% certain the Scuderia would get rid of him this year. Looks like they won't (very bizarre) but no matter what next year will be his last year with our team. After that he will become another Karthekeyan.

I'm still hoping Ferrari gets smart and hires ANYBODY ELSE for 2012 but I'm not holding my breath. Particularly after knucklehead Dumbinecali confirmed Massa for next year. Two peas in the pot.

 

Could just be that many (like me) didn't watch the race live at 4~5 AM (US Time), and watched the recording hours later, instead ... ??? Nonetheless, the opinions in the referenced thread speak for themselves : many more Fchatters disagree with the penalty, than agree (including those who thought it was Hamilton's fault, plus those who thought it was a racing incident).

Now i do agree, that the results on a Ferrari board would be expected to support Massa more so than elsewhere. I haven't checked elsewhere ... but Fast_ian apparently has

 

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA



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HAHAHAHA

Yeah Massa is definitely quicker than LH. Suuure...

He's barely beating the benz boys and the Ferrari is unquestionably a better car. Rosberg or MS would run circles around him. Sutil or Di Resta would as well.

 

HAHA!

Damn this thread is great comedy. Di Resta is getting spanked by Sutil yet you think he could take the fight to Alonso. Unreal.

 

FA is not the measure of out and out pure speed. So what if Massa is within a couple tenths during qualifying? I would never say that qualifying was FA's main strength. However, during the race he gets certifiably destroyed. I confidently believe that Sutil, DiResta, Rosberg, or MS would have more points than Massa has this year driving the same car. You contend that this year is an anomaly but last year he was terrible as well. Next year he will be destroyed by Alonso again and he will finally be fired. If you would like to bet the percentage of FA's points total that he scores I am game. I say he scores no more than 60% of what Alonso brings home. Case of beer?

Also, I wouldn't go off saying I hate the guy considering that I have met him and had my picture taken with him. I am a fan of his, he has had a great run and I really wish he would have brought it home in 2008. Oh well. However, the guy simply isn't right for Ferrari anymore. He has started whining at Rubens-esque levels and is magnetized to Hamilton every race. He qualifies pretty well, but is horrid in the race. It's time for new blood in the Ferrari.

 

Qualifying is important but not the ultimate measure of things as strategic decisions (setup, tires) play into it as well. So what if Massa beats Alonso occasionally in qualifying? Means jack squat.

Every time. And when he happens to be fast for once, then he spins on his own and looses it all again (Barcelona, Montreal).

+1

Totally agree.

However: I guarantee you, that *IF* Ferrari keeps Massa around for next year, there will be some die hard fans of his (3 names come to my mind immediately ) who will still find excuses and argue that Ferrari should extend his contract because of blablabla

 

There's no *IF's* about, it Massa will be at Ferrari next year in the second car. Why?, because they feel that stability within the team for one more season will give them the best opportunity getting the WDC with Alonso.

By keeping Massa on board they remove the possible complication of adapting to a new driver which could distract them from the season. Ferrari have said that they want to start the season strongly from the beginning in 2012 and a new driver could hamper that.


However, the reality is, Massa is now drinking at the last chance saloon with Ferrari, and rightly so. To say that his performances in the last couple of seasons has been a disappointment is putting it mildly.

Ferrari know that he can have the outright speed to race at the front with the likes of Vettel, Alonso, Hamilton etc., he's shown that in past seasons, what they haven't seen in the last couple of years is that he still has the speed to do it.
They will have weighed up the pro's and cons about replacing him and at the moment it still makes more sense to keep him than to replace him if they want to concentrate on the WDC for Alonso.

In order to achieve Alonso's WDC though, they need Massa to be at the sharp end of the races taking points away from Alonso's rivals, something which he has failed to do over last couple of seasons. So They have given him one last chance to do what they expect of him or else he is gone.

The simple scenario next season would be if Massa fails to impress yet again and doesn't help Alonso get the WDC because then the solution is: "See Ya!, don't wanna be Ya!", and they replace him for 2013. After three years of disappointing performances it would be hard for anyone, even die-hard Massa fans, to justify a contract extension.

However, if he re-finds his old form and has a good season, running right behind Alonso (and on occasions possibly even in front of Alonso), and manages to take away points from Alonso's main rivals then that creates a dilemma for Ferrari: Should he stay or should he go? (and then you'll get the arguments about contract extensions!)


Something else to bear in mind in all of this is that while we can all form our own opinions on Massa's performances and whether he should still be in the team or not, Ferrari have a lot more information available to them about Massa's performances than we do so they are in a far better position to assess whether or not he should remain in the Team.


At the end of the day: Time will tell which way it goes, but for 2012 he'll be a Scuderia Ferrari F1 pilota!

 

I agree with this. Also I would not be surprised if he is replaced by say race 7 or 8 if he is not up to speed..so to speak. I think his position is very very tenuous. If they replace him so be it. Results count and its not been a good year for him. Im a fan but that has limits as we all know the team matters more, hence Kimi's release for the same. Lack of performance.

 

I like Massa becasue he seems to have more sportsmanship and class than most of the other drivers. He does not whine and complain and act like a prima donna. And he remains loyal to a team that literally screwed him out of a world championship with that abysmal pit stop and leaving the fuel hose conected in Singapore.

As for his poor race results, I do wonder if he is not getting the pit strategy he needs, but it is hard to tell with the poor coverage.

I do think he has lost the pace he had a few years back and expect 2012 to be his last year, but I also expect him to be a sportsman and step down gracefully.

 

x2

 

Webber doesn't drive for Ferrari.

 

I would have agreed at the end of last year. This year he has been anything but classy.

 

Oh c'mon let's talk about Karthekyan!

 

Your own numbers show MW is a lot closer to Vettel than FM is to FA. You're making stuff up... like if I say "A car that can't even do a 1/4 miles in 15 seconds is slow" and you say "Ohh sure, you think a Corvette is slow just because it does it in 13.5 seconds". Well, 13.5 is less than 15, isn't it? And the points total Webber has is more of a proportion than FM has, isn't it? So you are not using my measure. My measure is Massa sucks and MW is doing better, because that is exactly what is happening.

You make it sound like that has been the case all year. It hasn't. Earlier in the year the Ferrari was the 2nd fastest car. And by rolling both Ferrari drivers together and calling the performance OK you are acting like they have equal part in that performance. Nope... if Alonso was performing at a Massa-like level, Mercedes would be gunning for the #3 spot. If Massa was performing at an Alonso-like level, they would be in 2nd place.

LOL! You should be his PR manager! When I used to race, I always laughed at the excuse-makers They would tell you about the 342 things that happened to them during the race that conspired to produce their result. "if only X didn't happen" was their favorite line. I always replied the same... "Wow, if all those things didn't happen, you would have finished 10 laps up on the field!". If only all that bad luck hadn't befallen Massa he'd be smoking Alonso... and if only I was Brad Pitt, I'd be going to bed with Angelina Jolie. Also, you give Massa a pass for having an off season but LH is now an inferior driver to Button? Errr, ok.

This is the same team that replaced Massa with Luca Badoer last year, right? Then replaced him with Fisichella Let's not pretend Ferrari is above making tactical mistakes in their driver lineup.

 

Not only that, it's not true (that MW is doing as bad compared to his teammate as FM is)

If you look at the proportion of points MW and FM have in relation to their teammates, Webber is 37% closer to Vettel than Massa is to Alonso.

And considering Vettel has had not a single DNF and has broken all sorts of records this season, actually makes Massa look quite bad, considering what Alonso has been able to do with the Ferrari.



As for the comment earlier about PDR - I did not say he would beat Alonso... I mean that Alonso is not going to stand for someone in that seat who could even possibly challenge him. He needs a beaten-down beta male who will acquiesce to and team orders and will be Alonso's faithful #2, but not too distant a #2. Massa is filling that role perfectly in terms of being a beaten down beta male, but he's failing miserably on the "not too distant a #2" part.

 

Wow. If this is the Massa Supporters thread I would hate to see the vitriol thrown around in a resurrection of the Mass Haters thread...

 

Agree'd and he does actually drive for Ferrari. Some of the commentary is rather venemous. Its just F1 and Felipe isnt the world's worst driver. Im a fan and I can live with him 1 more year. Ive also posted I see his performance this year has not been very good. The team overall was better last year and we had more wins as well. Not his fault alone. If they replace him so be it. I fully expect them too, even earlier if his performance next year doesn't pan out, say by race 7 or 8.

Some of the commentary is a bit sad for intelligent fans of F1 and Ferrari at that. I do not 'hate' any 1 driver. Not like some 'hate' Felipe. Its frankly pathetic. Some members should accept he is with the team and let it go. Like we matter with our feelings in the big scheme of things anyway.

 

Just???

Actually as a collective we do: No fans, no audience, no reason for sponsors and teams to hold the races, no F1.

Without fans F1 would be like...ALMS

 

My main gripe with Massa of late is: His focus appears to be whining about the driving habits of another driver, and trying to prove a futile point, the net result being a compromising of his own race.

And I put part of the blame on Smedley.

 

I honestly think that he would have been cool with Kubica in the other seat, which would have been great considering that RK was very quick and buddies with FA.