Massa still w/o a drive for next year.....to me it speaks volumes.
LOL. When someone uses practice and qualifying as the benchmark yet leaves out race day results, that says a lot. A kind of damning with praise. The ultimate market test. -F
Actually I'm blur. When people say a driver brings million. Does it means in the form of cold cash, or more of endorsement etc etc?
I don't know, I still feel like Massa could do well with a team that supports him and an environment that demands he be the number one driver. He seems to drive better under pressure(whether it be for contract renewal or for a seat) so I think he definitely has what it takes to remain in Formula 1.
Problem is that there are no seats available....rb, Ferrari, mb and mcl are all set; lotus and sauber appear to have $ woes, toro Rossi seems to be a training ground for young rb drivers, force India appears set also, and cater ham and marussia seem destined to produce rolling chicanes. Pickings are very slim, and his only chance may be Williams which if Ross goes there would be his only legitimate shot at a competitive car. Phil's cause would be helped if he brought big sponsor $.....shame that hulks future isn't secure; he would be at Ferrari if lotus actually paid their bills as kimi wouldn't have left methinks.
Massa schooled by Alonso again in Abu Dhabi today - Massa started 7th, finished 8th, down one position. Alonso started 10th, finished 5th, gained 5 places. As Alonso stated yesterday - who cares if Massa qualifies ahead occasionally? There's no points for qualifying, and when it counts on Sunday, Alonso has massively outscored Massa. Massa is already whining about the tire selection, complaining that the team put him on the wrong tires for his final stint and he could have scored top 5 if they had put him on soft instead of mediums. But, Ferrari says Massa's third stint would have been too long on the Softs, and the medium were the right choice for him. Of special note, on Lap 46 when Alonso stopped, he had just finished a long run on Medium tires, Massa had been out for several laps on new medium tires, yet Alonso had made up the ground he lost when stuck behind Massa before Massa's second stop, and came out ahead - Massa's final tire set was NOT a factor in losing ground to Alonso, as Alonso wasn't on his final tire set yet. A perfect example again of why no team wants Massa - he doesn't deliver on Sundays.
Complaining?? Really. Calm down and let your hate go...seriously LOL. Sounds like the team made a strategy call based on tire wear. I guess you will sleep better though. It may sound strange to you but covering both strategies with either compound is not unusual in F1. Get a life and get over ridiculous hatred of the guy. Call LdM and work it out. He kept him around. Felipe Massa -"Today I was competitive from start to finish and pulled off a lot of passing moves with a car that handled well. It was a great race. Our strategy was based on a single stop, but when we realised that the pace was too quick for the rear tyres and the wear was greater than expected, we decided to make a second stop so as not to take any risks. Fitting the Mediums rather than the Softs was not the best decision, because the softer compound was quicker by at least a second per lap: I'd managed to do 19 laps on them in the first stint and it would not have been a problem to do the same in the final part of the race. It's a real shame, because we could have finished at least fifth, but even if this is not the result we deserved, I am still pleased with my performance. Now we head for Texas and Brazil, two tracks that on paper should suit our car better and where I hope I can continue to be competitive". Pat Fry: "Today's race was intense and action packed and our drivers were in the thick of it right to the end, despite the fact that the top places were out of our reach. Initially, we had thought of running just a one stop race, but when we realised that that the wear rate of the Mediums in the second stint would not have allowed us to go all the way to the end, while doing competitive times, backed up by our simulation systems, we told Fernando and Felipe to go flat out, as they would need to make a second stop. With Fernando, we managed to get to lap 44 which meant he was able to run the Softs to the end of the race. Unfortunately, we couldn't do the same with Felipe and with him we chose not to risk it, keeping him on the Mediums. It was a real shame. The two F138s proved they had a good pace, definitely better in the lower temperatures and both drivers were involved in close fights and made spectacular passing moves. In the last two races, we must improve, especially in qualifying, because only by starting further forward can we put ourselves in a position to fight for second place in the Constructors' Championship".
Yes, Massa was absolutely complaining and whining about the tire choice for his last stint. You quoted the official Ferrari post-race comments, where they write what Massa "said". How about we quote a third party report? There are quite a few already like this report: Massa blames own Ferrari team for Abu Dhabi error Motorsport - News - Yahoo! New Zealand Sport Yes, definitely whining and complaining from Massa, when you remove the Ferrari press office filter. No mention from Massa in any of these other reports that the Soft tires wouldn't have lasted the 17 laps remaining at a hard pace. The team made the right call. Massa is a whiny complainer, who isn't as fast as Alonso on Sundays.
Is it me or was it a no brainer to fit soft tires for the last stint? Cars are lighter at that point so in this aspect I have to agree with Phil. WCC points are needed.....
Massa did a great job today. A slow final pit stop (.8 slower than Alonso's as I recall) and the wrong tires late in the race. With the soft compound he would have been faster at the end. He might have still been behind Alonso but just barely. Massa is driving very well. Too bad he didn't do that all season long.
I guess that it´s because everybody wants to pit earlier to put fresh tyres and pass the others while they´re in the pits, so many times the last stint is too long for the softs.
Still no takers... Massa should announce his retirement from F1 and leave with his head held high. 8 years with ferrari. Teamed with Schumacher, Raikkonen, Alonso. Not shabby.
