What's false? When one driver has a better shot he gets the better treatment. Without Alonso in the mix Phil got the first crack at prime pit time. I'm not arguing that Phil should get preferential treatment unless he's the hot hand.
Today Vettel was just out for an easy cruise, had Massa shown the slightest bit of catching him, he would have just driven away. Thats actually what he did really.
At this point the only thing that stands between Seb and another WDC is the health of a Datsun alternator.
Just finished watching...so happy for Kobiashi!!! Awesome drive by Massa too. Stole some points from some of the Tifosi competition. Good on him. Love the circuit. Brings back memories of the best of all time (Senna) showing others how it is done! MB
Ah yes but the question is, if Alonso was in Massa's position, would he have caught Vettel. I figured he may have, but not overtaken him, according to Vettel his car was just getting better and better as the fuel burnt off. Am answering my own questions But I do not think the Ferrari is as bad as some make out.
Agree on all points. The only difference is Alonso would have got points. Massa drove a good race under absolutely no pressure once the first corner was over. And VIZSLA yes of course Alonso should benefit from any pit stop strategy when they are both racing, he actually has a chance of winning the WDC. If Massa had got the results earlier in the year things might be different, but as usual he didn't. I also agree with someone (?) that they need to qualify better and this is where the car is still not competitive enough. Unfortunately I think Alonso will now be under too much (self induced?) pressure and thus we are even more likely to get 0 points instead of low points as he will be desperate for a win. Pete
I am praying this isn't the case. But you may be right. I still look at this Japan race and am asking myself if he should have made this type of error. The first things I though about was his nerves getting to him.
The guy got his head smashed while competing at the top rung of the pinnacle of motorsport. I don't think it's fair for anyone to say he sucks.
I agree I was trying to find the rain video of him and kubica racing in the rain but it was taken down by Bernie. Anyone that see this could not say he sucked. I think his accident and car have been his problem. I hope to see him on more podiums and I think I speak for all of us! I still cant believe Hamilton left McLaren!!!! I think he got in trouble over the tweet thing and is spoiled. I think Fernando is also but have to support my team!!!! Image Unavailable, Please Login
That was in 2007 - two words that were Massa's salvation in the rain: traction control. Banned in 2008 - the year he spun 5 times in the wet at Silverstone, on his way to dead last. Without traction control, Massa has proven over and over that he is less than useless in the wet.
No place for compassion in top level sports. He is definitely slower than before the accident and was not top rung before then. Pete
Simply because Massa is a gentleman and he proved that with his dignity when losing the 2008 WDC. That really must have hurt to be WDC for about 10 secs before LH crossed the line. That was when my respect for him began. I think his accident dented more than his head and its only now that we are seeing his return to form. I hope the 2nd place on Sunday will give him confidence but what would really help is for Ferrari to stop dicking around and confirm him for next year if they are going to keep him.......which I pray they do. The present situation can't help Massa's results......Can you imagine the pressure of going to work everyday and not knowing if you were going to have a job by the end of the week. If Ferrari want 2 cars on the podium then they must fully support 2 drivers and not just Alonso. I have to say that the lack of praise coming forth from Ferrari after Japan makes me fear the worse for Massa's future...........Hope I'm wrong.
Again you speak without knowing the facts, or you simply don´t care.....I also believe that at Mónaco 2008 there was no traction control and felipe was pulling a second a lap on everyone until the safety car came out and handed the cictory to hamilton....also it rained heavily in Brazil and felipe won the race very easily.....also rained in spa, and he was never far from Kimi and Lewis, and while both of them went of the track several times, felipe never put a foot wrong and actualy won the race. Now, what happened at Silverstone as a very simple explanation, a technical one, and if you watched the race with a minmum of atention, you would have noticed Felipe´s car was undrivable, for him, or for anyone else!!! FErrari secrewd him in qualifying, amnd he was bound to start from the back of the grid, so, they gambled on the weather, and decided to set.up his car for totaly dry weather conditions, in order to try and make up for the mess at qualy. he was the only one in these conditions. Now, do you remenber how was the weather? That´s right, it was pouring rain!!! The first corner he made, a friend that was watching with me imideatly said "look at Felipe´s car, it´s like a board!!!)"...and it was, with that set-up the car was simply undrivable, and later an engineer at ferrari (my friens´s friend) confirmed him, felipe´s car had a totaly dry set-up. So stop rubishing a driver before you know what realy happened. In fact if you think a litle, if someone is able to drive 1 sec a lap quicker during heavy rain in Mónaco than everyone lese, he isn´t that bad.
I think if one qualify to be F1 driver, he can't be too bad. But, for Massa, he is not bad but just not good enough to be a Ferrari driver and being paid so much.
It's hilarious that you can write how the safety car handed the Monaco 2008 victory to Hamilton, yet you turn around and claim that Felipe actually won the race in Spa 2008!!! There was nothing about Spa 2008 that was a win for Massa, he certainly didn't win it - he ran a distant third, finished a distant second, after Kimi went off in a great battle with Hamilton, then Mosley manipulated the results, invented a new rule on the spot, and penalized Hamilton, handing the 1st place result to Massa. Come on, even the most ardent tifosi can't claim that Massa actually won Spa 2008, it was handed to him by Mosley, he sure didn't drive to first place on the track. Yes, it rained - off and on, and whenever it was raining, Massa lost ground to the actual fast drivers in the wet like Kimi and Lewis. In Brazil 2008, again a wet and dry race, and Massa pulled away when it was dry, and lost ground or held at best when it was wet. Yes, he won that race, but it wasn't by virtue of his wet skills, it was in spite of them.
No they dont and some here like to take each and every win from him and make them all conditional - i.e. "in spite of his skills' etc lol. Ok he bought his ride in F1 I guess lol. Some people need to move on, literally. He is an F1 driver and has a record most never achieve and he actually drives for Ferrari. In some minds here its criminal that he is on the grid. Ridiculous. His skills put him very much in title contention before. That is something of an achievement. Period. If you read his narrative from the last race he is a smart driver. As he was passing the FA/Webber/ Grosjean debacles he was selecting Kers in the corner to make even more passes. Is he FA no? Is he the worst driver on the grid. Not in the slightest.
Let´s see, Hamilton clips the wall and blows a tyre.....he returns far back the order so his race was virtualy finished....than somene crashes, and everyone has to pit, handing the lead to hamilton!!! MY friend, this was only the luckiest win i ever saw!!! Similar to the won from Alonso in Singapur 2008 (only that one had more than luck to it...it had cheating involved).....IN Spa, felipe was most of the race about 5s from the from 2, Kimi crashed and Hamilton was penalised fair and square for cheating, yes, because being a smart-ass and cheating the rules was what he did. So felipe won and he deserved that win. THe same way he beat Kubica fair and square in one of the biggest batles i ever saw, and to give all credit to electronics it´s ridiculous, it was a great drive by to great drivers under extremly difficult conditions, and only too very talented guys would be able to pull it off withou planking the car on the wall. You don´t like massa, that´s fine with me, but don´t try bash him by inventing things or trying to diminwish what he achieved....he may not be the driver he was but, in his days he was good enough to beat Shumacher, Alonso and Kimi on equal cars, and you cant sai that about many people in the grid.
So is it your opinion then that his performances this season up to Suzuka have been acceptable? Lets just recap: So far this season (including Suzuka) its: 1st) Fernando Alonso 194 pts. (8 podium finishes: 1st [x3]; 2nd [x2]; 3rd [x3] ) 9th) Felipe Massa 69 pts. (1 podium finish: 2nd)