Merged Massa Threads. What to expect for 2006?

PSk · Aug 19, 2005

www.f1-live.com said:

Former World Champion Jacques Villeneuve believes his Ferrari-bound team-mate Felipe Massa will shine when he joins the World Champion team next year.

Brazilian Massa, who currently races for Sauber, secured a deal after the last race in Hungary to replace Rubens Barrichello at Ferrari in 2006, where he will join seven-time world champion Michael Schumacher.

But while many believe the 24-year-old Massa will find it tough to match the German Champion, Villeneuve said: "He doesn't seem to have the personality for a number two so I don't think that's the reason they signed him. He is a fighter. I would be surprised if he just goes there and sits down and accepts everything. He's not one who will just accept being behind, he is still progressing and Ferrari can only be good for him."

Massa tested with Ferrari for a year in 2003 and said he has been on contract with the Italian team since 2001, the year before he made his Formula One debut with Sauber. He grew a reputation of being fast and unreliable in his first season on the grid but has mellowed since his time testing at Ferrari and has impressed Villeneuve with his pace this season.

But the world champion warned Massa not to expect any favours from Schumacher, whose contract expires at the end of 2006, and said: "I'm not sure Michael will want to teach him, you don't teach other drivers how to beat you. But Felipe still has a lot of good years in front of him, he's still in a learning period, he has been a test driver there, he has spent enough time there, he should be quite at ease.

"He is very good, he has matured a lot compared to a couple of years ago when he was very young. He is still young but now he has maturity and now he has got to learn how to drive at the front."

Villeneuve once aspired to join Ferrari, where his father Gilles raced, but has never achieved that ambition and is now content with simply staying on the grid, which he expects to do with BMW next season.

The German engine manufacturer bought Sauber earlier this year but the Canadian driver, who has a two-year contract with Sauber, admitted he still has not spoken to them about the future.

"I've not spoken to BMW," he said.

Villeneuve, who took a sabbatical last year, wants to help steer BMW to the front of the grid but is too experienced to think that it will be an easy task to lift the team from its current position. And he added: "The big question is how good will we start because then we will progress. There will be a lot more people developing bits for the car than we have at the moment.

"All that kind of stuff that we don't have now will be a huge help next season. I'm sure it will be a step up from this year but how much I don't know. We haven't even talked yet, so I am not even sure who will do what job.

"You need continuity. That is why it is good that I will be there. If you start with two different drivers it takes extra time because you don't know where you are coming from and whether you have made progress."

Continuity is also something that will determine how Ferrari develop in the future once, as is likely, they lose their long-held world championship crowns at the end of this year.
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Hmmm ... we'll see.
Pete

Mr Payne · Aug 19, 2005

I think it is a good choice considering all the options. Rubens has become to old to be any good. He never even touched Michael and I think Massa will be able to put at least some form of pressure on him.

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Merged Massa Threads. What to expect for 2006?

PSk F1 World Champ

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Merged Massa Threads. What to expect for 2006?

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