JYS: Massa can still win the title By Jonathan Noble Thursday, October 2nd 2008, 12:06 GMT Former world champion Jackie Stewart believes Felipe Massa should not give up on his world championship ambitions for the year - despite losing ground to Lewis Hamilton after a disastrous pit stop in the Singapore Grand Prix. Massa saw his deficit to Hamilton extend to seven points in Singapore, when a pitstop error resulted in him leaving the pits with his fuel hose still attached to the car. But despite the setback, which means Hamilton can finish second in the final three races and still win the title, Stewart thinks the championship is still wide open. "Felipe is the most improved driver this year, he has had no peaks and valleys," said Stewart. "Last year he was very fast one day and the next time not so fast, but this year he has been consistently good. "I am a big admirer of Felipe's driving, and he can still win the championship. Ferrari in the dry still have the edge of the McLaren, and in the wet McLaren have the edge on Ferrari. I think with three races to go, there are still 30 points to be won or lost, so it is open." Despite his belief about Massa still having a good chance of winning the title this year, Stewart says he was left amazed by the mistakes that Ferrari made in Singapore. "I have a big admiration for Ferrari, but Singapore was a parody of errors. To allow their car to go out with the fuel line still connected, and then to leave Massa at the other ends of the pits before undoing the fuel line, that may have cost them the world championship." http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/71051 Don't stop now Forza Ferrari! Forza Massa! Now we need some help Kimi Image Unavailable, Please Login
I well remember the derision on here aimed at Mark Blundell of the beloved ITV when he said right back at the beginning of the season that Massa had a chance of winning the WDC this year. Looks like MB knew what he was talking about all along!
YelB thanks for posting this article. Nice to see words from Jackie Stewart about Massa and his driving. I think that means something these days for Felipe. I will be the first to say I am pleasantly suprised by Massa and his driving this year. I never envisioned Felipe with a good shot at the title as this season started.
Massa 'should' do well in his home race. I hope Kimi backs him up...at least he can contribute something this year.
Don't take any notice of what Jackie Stewart says, according to some FerrariChat 'experts' he, like all the other ex-F1 drivers, is an old fart who doesn't know what he's talking about.
That's not Massa, that's Mas-zilla! He's too big to fit in the car - no way he can win like that! But seriously, I am surprised anyone is even saying "he can still win the WDC". Of course he can... he's only a handful of points behind. All it takes is one single Hamilton DNF and he's right back to being the leader and having a cakewalk to the WDC. Ferrari have the fastest car, and Massa has been qualifying very well. IMO it's Lewis that needs to stay on his toes if he wants to win, not Massa.
Are you referring to a specific contest or just guessing? There are several magazines that have these contests, so it'll be interesting to see whether he wins that or not. Normally the WDC gets this, but there have been cases where others won as well. AFAIK there is no such title officially from the FIA (but I might be wrong).
On that note, I actually think Massa is in the preferred position with 3 races left. Close enough to chase Hamilton down without having to resort to anything drastic, while Hammy needs to be concerned about not throwing it away.
Let's not forget that Hami had a 17 point lead with two races remaining last year and lost the title.
McLaren is overdue for a mechanical DNF, and you would think (hope) that together, KR and FM can outscore LH and HK in the remaining races...
