Any Massa fans left? (CHINA SPOILER)

Just curious. I know, it's a formidable task and a lot of other drivers had misadventures of their own...but Massa has the same car as MS and where was he once again? Is the Massa bandwagon still around? Did you catch it when the Speed TV commentators said (in all seriousness, or was it tongue in cheek?) 'this is the guy who will replace MS next year...'

 

I'm still a fan.

The guy has had the best first season of any of Michael's Ferrari team mates. New points system or old, his stats surpass Irvine and Barichello's first seasons.

Also, remember that Barichello was far more experienced when he joined Ferrari.

Someone with Forix access should pull the stats. I saw a comparison somewhere thru Indy and Massa was far superior to the others.

 

I like Massa and think he's doing a great job.

 

I'm a fan of his as well. The guy had a bad race, he's young, it's going to happen. FA, MS, KR, they've all had bad races, he'll only improve with time.

Mark

 

I think even asking the question is wrong.

I agree with MPAT. Not everybody is good in the rain, he was the second fastest Bridgestone qualifier in China, of course I expect MS to be faster yet Massa has at times been faster, he is still very young, and I remember one Jody Scheckter that spun wrecked many times and then became world driving champion.

I am still a Massa fan, and believe he is doing a great job for this first year.

 

you also have to remember, you are compairing him with MS. Takes time to fill the shoes of the best. I think he will hold his own. MS will work with him and in the end, I am sure he can take a title or two.

 

Rain, inferior tires compared to Mich., and horrible starting position. Give him a break. MS has a huge motivation pushing him- he can taste #8.

Regarding Speed's comment- I thought KR was replacing MS. Massa would remain the #2.

KR always seems to break a lot. It will be interesting to see if this is due to rough driving style or being given an unreliable car. Next year will show.

 

I'm a Massa fan, but I think it is because he is driving for Ferrari. If he was driving for someone else I would not really think about him. I am a fan of non Ferrari drivers like Speed, Rosberg and Kubica. (BTW, I think your thread title is a race spoiler)

 

I agree. He had a bad day. I've seen MS do it. I think they were just giving him a hard time (the speed guys).

BTW, speaking of Speed, that one guy who makes all the funny noises all the time (vroomm) has been talking over everyone lately! He was really really bad today, and it was getting annoying at one point. He's just so excited to talk it seems...

 

He had a bad qualifying, and the race ended badly, but in between ...

The only time he got camera coverage was when something bad was happening. When he was setting race fastest laps, he only got a comment but no camera time.

Camera op: he was stuck behind the train: DC holding up Rosberg and the Toyotas. People have condemned Renault for blocking Schumi because it was "impossible" to pass two close drivers holding you up when there's only the one dry line. Massa got off line and slid off a couple of times trying to pass Ralf when he had four cars all being held up.

But he did manage to get around them.

Camera op: he spun while pushing to come back from a double stop, where he tested the drys to let Schumi pick the right time to change. But pushing to get into the points is better than giving up ... which we saw even Schumi do last year when the odds were against him.

Camera op: he had to get off the dry line to fight DC for 8th and got tagged. Even the hyper-critical speed commentators noted that DC "turned hard" into Massa there. And for someone who started in 20th on tires that were presumed losers, fighting to get into the points wasn't exactly a bad place to be.

Qualifying: Are you guys really lambasting the young kid for not matching the performance of a seven time world champion in similar equipment?

Egalitarianism is all well and good, but experience does count.

My complaint about Massa at Monza was that he simply wasn't pushing to advance. That was far from the problem in China. Felipe done good in this race. We could prefer better results, but it wasn't for lack of effort.

He still needs more experience mixing it up with the front runners, but the potential is there.

Alas, I just don't see Kimi and Massa as a championship team -- neither have the experience to drive car development the way Schumi did. If they lose Braun and the Byrne too, Ferrari may have a lackluster year in '07.

 

I'm no fan or critic of Massa.
Same equipment as MS for sure, but far less experience also.
I don't think we can compare the two at this point.
Massa could surprise us in future, who knows?

Anyway, anyone who is at the moment 4th in the World Championship, has won a GP, and scored 60 points+ in a season, can't be that bad, No?

 

You make good points! Massa is not that young though. As long as he is a Ferrari driver I hope he does well!

 

Exactly. I think 99% of the people here say they're a fan of Massa because of this. I can't really understand this. I understand being a fan of the team, but not every driver that drives for them regardless of performance. I'm a huge fan of BMW, but don't care much for the drivers, just get the job done (Kubica looks good, but still not a "fan"). Only guy I was a fan of was JPM. I liked the way he drove and I like his personality.

 

how can anyone compare MS to MAssa? and then say that he's replacing MS next season huh..those commentators have no idea what the heck they are talking about. massa had a solid race. it's just unlucky for him to crash out of the race in those tricky conditions.

and to answer your question, YES, I AM STILL A MASSA FAN. HE'S DOING A GREAT JOB.

 

NOTHING WRONG WITH MASSA
HE WAS DOING ALRIGHT UNTIL DC TURNED INTO HIM.
SHOWED A LOT OF CLASS BY NOT BLAMING DC---SOME OTHER DRIVER'S WOULD HAVE!

 

+1

 

The commentators were having a good time, the made a lot of mistakes, but they were entertaining. Your right, MS is without comparison. But I like to think that Ferrari is God's gift to the world so if Massa is not a close second to MS then he is not doing great, just ok

 

I liked Massa when he was with Sauber. A little wild, but he came to race.

Anyone remember who had the seat at Sauber before Massa?

 

kimi?

 

He's not in my top 5.

 

Yes, I like him.

 

On a side note, why were the SpeedTV announcers saying "THIS is the guy that is replacing MS???!?!". He ain't the guy replacing MS - Kimi is. Does anyone, including the SpeedTV commentators really think that Kimi is going to be #2 and Felipe will be 1? The mere thought is laughable.

Kimi is MS's replacement, and Massa will be what he is now, the backup driver/assistant/workhorse. No dis on Massa, but he ain't no Kimi and I thought everyone acknowledged that?

 

Massa didn´t had his best race to date yesterday, where as Michael Schumacher was once again in a class of its own. It is hard to look good next to Michael Schumacher. Having said that, Massa did do a decent job in my opinion. He made the best of a bad startingposition and less then favourable circumstances in the early stage of the race. His move on DC was perhaps a tad too optimistic.

And as said before, I believe it will indeed be Kimi´s task to lead the Ferrari charge on track, come 2007.

 

Yep.

When Kimi left Sauber to take Mika's seat in '02, rookie Massa was paired with an annoyed Heidfeld. ("Quick Nick" was annoyed that a one season rookie kid was picked over him by McLaren.) Massa finished 13th in the season (4pts) to Nick's 10th (7pts) . (8 DNFs to Nick's 3)

After a year as a test driver, Felipe was back at Sauber in '04, teamed with a more experienced race winner. Massa finished 12th in the season (12pts) to his teammate's 11th (22pts).

Teammate's name?

In '05, Massa was teamed with former champion Villeneuve at Sauber.

Which one collected more points?


The kid's been coming right along.
And Kimi has only six years racing experience (01-06) to Felipe's four (02,04-06).
I still think the question is open which will gather more points in '07.

 

Not true about Rubens: Rubens scored in 16 races (the season had 17, but we're comparing it to the 16 races Massa had so far) 74 points using the 2006 points system. Massa has 62.

True, that Massa scores more points than Irvine in his first Ferrari year, but that's a bit unfair because the Ferrari was a slouch in 96. In 1999 the Ferrari was finally up to speed and MS would have clinched the title hadn't he broken his leg. If we take that season for Eddie he hugely outscores Massa with 96 points in 16 races converted to 2006 points.

And regarding the focus on the first year for Ferrari: This year can hardly be seen as that since Massa has spent an entire year test driving the Ferrari for the team and has spent years driving the Sauber with Ferrari engine (and design according to some). So he isn't as new to the team as eg. Rubens was in 2000. Or Salo in 1999 who instantly took 2nd in his first and only race.