A Few Conclusions From The French GP

I think the race penalty for LH was BS and given the mistakes he's made this season have been no worse than some of Massa's over the years I hardly think he's looking like a novice with the exception of Canada's pit lane debacle.

What I will say is Kimi seemed to have rattled Massa's cage with his speed for the weekend. First with the pole and then easily pulling away in the initial stages of the race. If the exhaust hadn't broken I don't think Massa would have gotten anywhere close to him. I've never seen Massa so upset trying to get by back marker cars that really weren't slowing him up anymore than they normally would. The next few races should prove to be very interesting. If Kimi out qualifies him again and outpaces him like he did when his car was healthy Massa's emotion could get the better of him. I'll admit I'm a Massa detractor but he's done a wonderful job turning it around this year and if he's to claim the WDC he needs to keep a lid on his emotions. If he can't it'll be his undoing.

 

Thanks for post, makes sense to me, the stewards admit it was harsh, but the only fine they could give !! I forgot about the HK one, the way the rules are, it makes overtaking a very risky business IMO.

 

If you read Massa's post race interview you'll notice that he has his emotions quite under control at the moment. He's looking at the bigger picture and realises that consistency wins championships. In the first few laps of the French GP he realised that second was the best he could do and accepted that. He'll win other races. The only thing he now needs to worry about is keeping his WDC lead. I'm wondering if Schumacher is still giving him advice. It sure seems that way.

 

+1 the emotional driver right now is LH and its costing him big time. He needs the emotional control talk more than anyone else. If he(LH) gets that under control then he will be fine. 2nd year driver he is, the press should give him a bit of slack.

 

Emotions after it's all over and in the bag is one thing on the track is another. I can tell you that the view from Massa's in-car camera with him pumping his fist in the air at a back marker well after the first few laps certainly aren’t the actions of someone who's settled into a race pace to sit back and take second. I'll take actions over words any day. Believe what you will, Massa was trying to catch Kimi, couldn't, was loosing ground and it was getting to him. I think given the speed Kimi showed this past weekend unless he has problems Massa won't be ahead of him for the rest of the season. Massa needs to keep his head cool and have some more good luck. If that happens I'll admit he could win the WDC. But, don't expect him to beat Kimi outright anymore. Kimi had said he really wanted to win this one and I think he's got the fire lit in his belly again. If he show's up to the British GP ready to destroy like he was this past weekend I don't think Massa will be close. I think it's Massa's race engineer talking in his ear during the race that's keeping him on an even keel rather than any chats with MS. It's that what surprised me the most. He's done a great job of being steady after those first two races and for that kind of frustration to be vented really shows something.

Just my .02

 

Okay he was frustrated because he needed a clear track to do those fast laps just before his pit stop. Nothing wrong with that. It at least shows he was still fighting. We'll see how the rest of the season develops. It will be interesting for sure. Kimi now needs to keep away from bad luck and win a few.

 

Does that mean we'll see Massa soon crash some more as this seems to be what MS is doing these days :

Even the Germans are mocking him now:

http://www.bild.de/BILD/sport/motorsport/2008/06/23/schumi-schlaegt-jeder/ferrari-schlaegt-jeden,geo=4919486.html

"Ferrari beats everybody, while everybody beats Schumi".

 

You should learn to keep your emotions in check....your anti MS and Massa are showing again.

 

It was obvious to many that Lewis didnt get out of the way for Massa very fast. So I guess all the drivers that ever waved their hand at a back marker are having issues dealing with the pressure. I seem to recall Senna doing that more than anyone. As for Kimi out peforming Massa....well time will tell. Remember that Massa was only out qualified by a small fraction and Massa admitted that he made one mistake in qualifying.

 

Franco, I believe that ultimately Kimi is the better racer, Massa could be WDC but then a lot of people in a Ferrari could be

I also believe that Massa is a better qualifier than Kimi but Kimi seems to be able to keep a better race pace , Schumy was brilliant at both,

 

From what I saw, Hamilton cut the chicane because he was carrying too much speed after passing Vettle, that is, he was going too fast in making the pass to keep his car on track in the next turn. If he would have been moving at a speed in that series of turns that would have enabled him to keep his car on track, he would not have been able to pass Vettle at that particular point. Therefore, IMO, the penalty was appropriate because his maneuver allowed him to gain an advantage.

 

My favorite part of the weekend was Kimi at the post quali press conference. After clinching the pole he continued on a flyer. In front of Massa and Hammi he says (paraphrasing) "My last lap would have been a few tenths quicker, but I did not need it". Beautiful! Take that!

 

Come on Charles. So far, Hamilton leads all drivers this season for stupid mistakes. I would think throwing away a WDC in 2007 that was yours counts for quite a few culmilative mistakes. Hamilton is not getting better, as is Massa, he is getting worse. If anyone's cage is rattled, it is Kimi's know that your teammate is leading the WDC, and seems to be as fast if not faster at most venues. Kimi's car has been healthy and Massa just usually outqualifies him.

Not only that, Massa leads all drivers in wins for 2008.

The only one the rattles Massa , is Massa.

 

Thats the thing though, its Massa or Kimi and nobody else.
If Massa was not with Ferrari right now no I wouldn't want him there, but he is there and he is winning so more power to him...

 

Ron, ya losing it dude, NOTHING rattles Kimi, not even a McLunken in his gearbox

he is one of the coolest dudes you will ever find, he wins and you nearly get a smile, he loses and you nearly get a frown, he must be a real excitement in the sack ......... "Kimi, are you enjoying yourself" .... "yeah, I think so"

Massa is going well for sure, but then he is driving a Ferrari, I hope he wins the WDC , but then I hope Kimi does too, it's about the car not the driver for me because the car IS the WDC .... Stirling Moss was one of the greatest drivers never to win a WDC because he was so patriotic and buggered his chances of winning by driving BRM which were notoriously unreliable, but didn't they have a great sound, for those that have never heard it buy "Into the red" by Nick Mason and listen to the CD that comes with the book

 

Kimi's cage rattled by Massa??? That's a good one Ron! They don't call Kimi the Iceman for nothing. Kimi is notorious for being cool under pressure. Massa can't hold a candle to Kimi for speed, race pace, race craft...or virtually anything in an F1 car. However, if Massa is in a perfect car he has shown that he can be quick for one lap in qualifying...but how many WDC's has that brought him? Come to think of it, when was the last time that Massa was so fast in quali that he didn't even need to use his last lap because his times were already faster than anyone was going to be able to go and yet he still had more speed left in the car???
Btw...Kimi has 5 of the 8 fastest laps so far this season including this last race which he had a broken car.

Because Massa drives a red car I'm happy he's doing well and I believe that him driving a red car is a big part of why he's doing well. But thinking that Kimi is rattled by Massa because "Massa's a threat" is just simply funny.

 

You keep harping on about him "throwing away the championship". At least he was gunning for it the first year he had competitive machinery, unlike your hero Massa. He was floundering around in 06, and getting beaten by Raikkonen in 07. Lewis is still very young, and in only his second year in F1, only a fool would think he woln't get any better. So far, Lewis has had both Fernando Alonso and Heikki Kovalainen as teammates, and so far he's beaten them both. The more experience he gains, the better he'll be, and he'll most likely be a multiple WDC in the future.

 

+1 Great Post John, except I still am rooting for Kimi, but hats off to Massa, he is doing an excellent job.

 

agreed. based on how kimi chose to proceed in france i think we'll see him starting to go out a bit lighter than massa to secure more poles and he's going to go on a nice run of consecutive victories. france should have been his but the car breaking is something he has no control over.

 

I predict that Kimi will dominate Massa from now on....and win the WDC....only bad luck can stop Kimi...bet you Massa will regret pissing away the 8 pts in the second race of the season....

 

I certainly don't think Hamilton is getting worse, but I do think he's been rattled by not being able to take the fight to Ferrari. But, it's only his second season in F1. I as many people here tend to hold him to a higher standard than most drivers. Why is that? Oh, yea because the standards on which we judge him are higher because of his abilities. Even though you deny it you've rated him on the top tier as well. I say that because if you didn't you wouldn't feel he "threw" the WDC away. If you really felt he wasn't all that special you would have seen his 2nd place in the WDC as blind luck and it would have been nothing of a surprise to you. By giving him credit that he should have won the WDC that he'd soundly beaten, up to those two mistakes, a 2 time WDC on his own team, Kimi and Massa in his very first season you validate what many of us have been saying, that being the guy's something special.

I don't think I'll add anything to the others posts.

While we all know "woulda-coulda-shoulda" Massa won the last race giving him the third win of the season leaving Kimi with two. But, given Kimi's qualifying and race performance up until his exhaust broke I'd say it's a fairly easy guess that Kimi would have won it. Then Kimi would be leading with three. But, he didn't. Let's just hope Ferrari allow them to race against each other so these kinds of debates are properly settled on the track.

From a philosophical point of view I'd say you're right. Right in that the only person that allows anything to rattle Massa is Massa. I'll admit he's been doing a much better job of not letting things get to him but he's still not as cool calm and collected as Kimi.

 

+1000
Great response ,nail on the head..