Felipe Massa/Ferrari
This appears to be the opinion of most of the F1 regulars of evey team along pit wall during pre-season testing.
Funny how you always select and post opinions that support your belief. Nikki Lauda for instance thinks Kimi will beat Massa eventually. As do many other regulars as well. As do I.
I believe that Kimi will beat Felipe eventually also. Just not in 2007. I am not referencing the old fogies like Niki who make irrelevant comments all the time and infrequent the pits during pre-season testing. Driving was his skill set, not race analysis from afar. I am talking about certain current engineers and team owners who have expressed their opinions while present at the testing. And also some motorsports journalists that are at every event or test. They do talk to each other. And the word does travel up and down pit lane. Actually the thread you posted referencing comments from Marc Surer, who does spend time in the pits, is indicative of what I have heard. To take it further, Massa's experience with the Bridgestones puts him ahead of the curve, even with his teammate. But Kimi will learn in 2007 and will impress in 2008. Just as Massa learned in 2006, and will impress in 2007. At the end of the day Kimi is the faster driver, but Felipe has the edge with experience and team cooperation. Not to mention that Michael Schumacher really likes Felipe personally and will be there to give him advise and support. That's got to be worth .01 second in lap times. And do not forget the connection Massa has with Jean Todt.
IMHO, Lauda was probably the most intelligent driver and tester I've ever seen behind the wheel; too bad he's a little wacky outside the cockpit...
Bernie is not often wrong when it comes to predictions !! i have backed a few he has made, and won every time ! not sure if iam brave enuff to back Massa tho hahaha!
I am not being hard on Massa, I am being hard on Bernie. (Note: Massa's first name is Felipe = Philip, my name is Philip so obviously he is a great guy and fantastic driver. Long tradition; Phil Hill, etc.) Having the head of F1 predict the winner is sort of like having the commissioner of the NFL predict who is going to win the Superbowl. Would the commissioner be criticised? Would questions come up as to whether he might influence the refs? I just think Bernie should keep his mouth shut no matter how much more money he has compared to 95% of all the fans on Fchat combined. How money money one has does not mean than can predict anything about anything, particularly a competitive sporting event and /or championship. I don't know whether his comments will help or hurt Massa. He may be set up as the guy to beat now. We'll have to see how this works out DURING THE F1 SEASON!
You are right, he shoud keep his mouth shut about who he thinks will win the WDC. But then, he wouldn't be Bernie.
Ecclestone being Eccelstone. Good point, Tifosiron. Interesting to note that ECCLESTONE and C*CKSUCKER have exactly the same number of letters. Hmmmmm... I do not think this is just a coincidence, the words for all intents and purposes are interchangeable IMHO.
Almost? They have a strong relationship and it is no secret, except I guess to you, that during the appearances Schumacher made at pre-season testing, he spent most of his time working with Massa. Apparently playing number two well has its long term advantages. Learning from the master is priceless.
I think it's pretty irresponsible for Bernie to be making guesses like this considering he owns the whole thing, but that doesn't mean that I disagree with him. If Massa can stay ahead of Kimi for the first half of the season I think he has a real shot at the title.
^^ naah - he must have been asked by the press for his comments. He may own the merchandising rights but he doesnt own everything. I think he predicted Schumi would win in 2006 and towards the end of the season it looked like a very good guess. I believe Ferrari will do very well this year and the WDC will go to one of the buys. Kimi looks a better bet overall taking into consideration propensity to make mistakes, sheer speed, ability to overtake, wet weather capability. Massa has impressed me with his dominance over Kimi in the off season testing. I think he might stretch the advantage for a couple races while Kimi works the kinks out with his race engineers. After that Kimi should dominate. Am looking forward to buying a Kimi Raikkonen 2007 F1 champion cap sometime soon
I'm looking forward for the F1 season to start to put all these speculations to the test!! Is it Jack Brabham who used to say;" The the flag drops, the bull**** stops!" For our young contributors on this forum, GP starts used to be given with the national flag, years before the light system.
That's because Kimi was busy taking a ****. Regarding your statement about Lauda not being an expert outside the cockpit: Ahem, do I need to remind you that he was a consultant for the Scuderia for years? The man got brains AND the gutts to speak his mind.
