LOL! Well, that was obscure. Any time. I agree. It'd be nice to see him do it as it would be great for the constructor's championship, but unfortunately I just don't know if he has it in him at the moment. The team will be heavily favouring Alonso and I don't know if Massa has the mindset to overcome the defeatist mentality following relegation to being #2. We've seen what he can do in 2008, but I think he has to be the favoured driver to perform like that over a season. Massa's recovery from his accident may also have robbed him of the 0.1% edge that is so critical in a sport this competitive. Raikkonen was the same, I think, in regards to needing preferred status. His form dipped dramatically in 2008 - a season where he effectively lost the #1 driver status at Ferrari. All the best, Andrew.
Latest rumor from Blicks Benoit is that Massa stays for the rest of the season but will get replaced next year by the Incredible Hulk.
I think we should just stick with him until the end of the season. Common guys, show some support. After this season is done, then yes, time to replace him. After all, he's passionate and did well at Ferrari. That accident really changed him.
I wonder if you would keep that philosophy in other sports / activities / professions... An NFL Quarterback... A MLB Relief Pitcher... A battlefield military commander... A surgeon operating on a family member... A Sushi Chef preparing your Fugu... The mechanic working on the airplane you are sitting in while delayed at the gate... What I find most disheartening is that Ferrari doesn't have a reserve driver that they feel is worthy of a drive,... even in the current situation.
Not relevant. What are the odds the next driver that's supposed to replace him is even gonna be better than him? I think Ferrari should do their best to motivate him, bring the best out of him for the remaining of the season, and then bid him the best. I don't see how a surgeon has to do with this.
+1 I have a sneaking suspicion we won't be far into next season before the howls that they should never have let him go begin...... At least the Rev & Lettuce supporters have gone a little quiet....... Cheers, Ian
Yup, I just watched the race again, Felipe finishes 5th, wow, still can't get one podium with that car. What a joke, even if he had 30% of Alonso's points, Ferrari would be somewhere close to leading the WCC.
Do you even look at the WDC points standings. Without looking,... I don't think any other driver has less than 1/2 the points of his teammate. What's Massa's percentage? ~20%. Pathetic. Humiliatingly poor performance... No one else even close to being as bad in comparison to his teammate. As for my analogies,... If you don't get it,... that helps me understand your support of Massa.
What are the odds that the next driver could do worse than him? He's about the worst driver on the current grid relative to his teammate. Even if you discounted Alonso's brilliance a bit, Massa is still so far behind in performance that it really is pathetic. You could take ANY of the current drivers except perhaps Narain and they'd do better than Massa. Sure, feel sorry for him if you like, but he's had 2 years to show he still has what he showed in 2008 - and he doesn't have it now, and didn't have it in 10 or 11 either. He never should have started this season, he's just proved again that he's useless since his accident. He's costing Ferrari millions, and will lose them the WCC.
Bring back MS for a swan song with the Scuderia to bridge the gap until Vettel can be weaned off the RB and name the improved 458 the Schumacher (in keeping with the S theme...360 Stradale & 430 Scuderia).
in fairness to shumi, i don't think he'd be much quicker than massa if put into the ferrari now ....peope forget that before his return to F1 he sustained some serious injuries too, and has never fully recovered from them IMO ....i've never been a massa fan, but i'm glad to see the team continue to support him and not slag him like some others might have, i have no doubt that both massa and the team have already clearly spoken about him being let go at seasons end, so it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone IMO
Ferrari wanted him back in 2009 but rather than helping out, MS had his doctors tell us that he can't drive F1 anymore and joined Mercedes instead. Given the results at MB one has to say that the doctors were actually correct...
Harsh IMO. Yes he is not MS of old but he isn't endangering all the other competitors and spectators with his lack of control. Pete
Not true, here a few examples to the contrary: - Montreal 2010 - Hungaroring against Rubens - Singapore 2011 - Barcelona 2012 These just a few examples where he hit other cars because of his lack of control/ bad judgement. There were more (Silverstone comes to mind where he torpedoed a Sauber).
It is always difficult for extremely successful athletes to know when to end a career. I can't fault MS for falling into the comeback trap. Many other F1 greats have made the same mistake. The difference however was that they realized after a few races that it was leading nowhere and gave up. MS still has to accept that reality.
I would still replace Massa with Grosjean without hesitation. Grosjean is somewhat reminiscent of Jody "Sideways" Scheckter, recall his crash on the first lap at Silverstone in 1973? When Ken Tyrrell hired him, he said essentially "It's easy to get a driver to slow down, almost impossible to make one go faster." Grosjean needs to be mentored much as Tyrrell mentored Scheckter, despite his refusal of Jackie Stewart's kind offer. Perhaps this trip to the woodshed will help to straighten him out a bit. Massa is finished as a frontline F1 driver if he ever was one in the first place. He needs to move on after the season and no one should mourn his passing.
Dennis Miller: As an empty suit, this guy gives coat hangers a bad name. Let's face it, the best thing Phil has going for him is his name..."Phil." He's just lucky Ferrari couldn't find a driver named Enzo or Dino. Then he'd be watching F1 on TV like the rest of us. Politics on the Ferrari team? You've got to be kidding me, right? Maybe our only hope as Ferrari fans is to have Phil banned ala Gross Jean.
I think Grosjean is toast at Ferrari after Spa! Seriously - if they are not tempted to take Perez because he is 'too inexperienced', then there is absolutely no way they will take Kamikaze Grosjean, who, let's not forget, is on his second career attempt at F1 after an almighty failure at this first attempt a few years ago... As for Massa - I agree with you. He's out of here at the end of season for sure (we all hope).
With all due respect, it's becoming harder and harder to take your MS posts even remotely seriously. Tifosi12, it's time we dropped the "he needs to hang it up" BS because it's just that, a bunch of BS. He tallied up another great race at Spa and once again handed Rosberg his ass at one of the best "drivers tracks" on the calendar (just as he did last year). Great passing and defending in a crapbox of a car. The give and take between MS and Raikkonen was the kinda stuff you get from two hellaciously good drivers that know exactly how to play the game at high speeds. As far as the "evidence" you provided, at Hungary '10 I would argue that MS is one of the few skilled enough to pull off a defensive maneuver like that. He knew exactly how close he could get away with pushing Barrichello and did it. Singapore '11 and Barcelona '12 are questionable whether or not they were even Schumacher's fault. You can chide him for running into Kobayashi in the wet at Silverstone but who stuck it 3rd on the grid in a POS in torrential rain where car control is most important? Who did it again in torrential rain at Hockenheim? Who was fastest at Monaco where driver reactions/control are arguably more of a necessity than anywhere else on the calendar? You're not making sense. If you think MS should hang it up because his team and car sucks and seems to be going nowhere you might have a valid argument, but with the kind of year Michael has had, saying he should do so because of a lack of control/judgment/skill is ridiculous. By your logic he should have retired after this one: [ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpuoLl-6WFU&feature=related[/ame] EVERY DRIVER makes mistakes on the track. To look at MS with your microscope is laughable. I usually like your posts but the senseless trolling of MS fans here is making you look like an amateur, which I know you're not.