Weber: MS to call it quits after 2008

I wonder about the motivation of bringing Massa to Ferrari next year. Could it be that they are bringing him over now, so that MS can "groom" him into a top-notch driver? Massa has a rediculous amount of raw talent, but it has yet to be tapped properly. If Ferrari can get MS to "unlock" the potential Massa has, that move may not be a bad one.

MS has to know that he is nearing the end, and that he can't race forever. Perhaps in his last year or so, he will look towards the future and do what he can to help develop the future of Scuderia? Thats what I think they are doing with Massa. Massa won't be an IMMEDIATE threat to MS, because he needs a year or so to get used to the car. This would allow MS to still be the "top" driver on the team in 06, but I wouldn't br surprised of Massa starts giving MS a run towards the end of 06. Then MS announces that it is time for the next generation of Ferrari, and hangs up the helmet, but instead works for the team to further help Massa and help Rossi if/when he comes to Ferrari in 2007.

I think it all comes down to Massa. If he can show next year he is capable of being a #1, MS retires and hands Massa the reigns. If Massa sucks ass, MS stays on for 2 more years.

I really can't see Ferrari taking Massa now, and dumping him after one year, unless he does a REALLY poor job next year, which I don't see him doing. Ferrari really hasn't ever dumped guys after 1 year, at least in the past 10-15 years. They always stick it out with them for at least 2 or 3 years.

 

I believe thats what KR has been saying about the Mercedes engines this year.

 

Nice!

 

Batmans future will be decided by next years Batmobile.
Stay tuned to this bat-chanel.

 

my point exactly..so what if he didn't win the championship? go home retire and have cookies with tea on sunday afternoons? and what about him leaving while 'he's still at the top'? common, schumi broke almost all the record in F1, except the pole, which, evetually, i believe he will, so even if he retires in 2008 w/o being a champ that year, doesn't make a diff. it'll will take probably another 50 yrs b4 we all see someone better and break schumi's record.

 

It is quite sad, he is more than likely going to stay long enough to see a noticable decline in his performance especially if he stays till 08. the truth is that there are probably 3 drivers that would probably be as quick or quicker than MS if they were in the same car. Like i said before They won't get a young hotshoe until MS is good and ready to go. Massa won't be anything special in the Ferrari, he reminds me a bit of Pizzonia.

 

He wins 5 titles in a row and then has ONE 'bad' year where he's only challenging for 3rd in a **** package(as Ferrari is concerned), and some people want to put this guy out to pasture. I don't get it.

What if Ferrari and BS get it right next year and he takes the title back ? Are these people still going to insist he's had it and should retire ?

As someone mentioned earlier the package lost the pace this year not MS.

 

Yeah, wtf? As per Egan's article this month in R&T, Webber insists "it's 20% driver, 80% car" as a result of the level of technological intervention / sophistication they've achieved.

Ferrari had a **** chassis this year, the engine was about average, and you guys are calling for him to get canned... Jeez.

Newsflash, there are maybe two proven drivers other than MS on the grid, Raikonnen and Alonso, and both are firmly locked into the their current team. Who else is there? So, let's call for arguably the greatest driver of all time to step down, because there's an off chance KR gets in one too many drunken stripper incedents and Dennis cans him, then we can snag him up. There's no chance with Alonso in the near future because wherever Briatore goes, he'll follow.

Just my $.02, but I give Schumi 1000x more credit for not going out on top like Prost did, which is power *****ness IMO. Maybe he does retire as WC in 2006 or 2007, but after sticking it out this season and passing the crown on to someone else he's got my support. To be honest, I really didn't like Schumi at all until this year.

 

So, will "Incrediboy" become "Sindrome"?

I'm geeking over it.

(Back away from the satellite dish, son.)

 

Yes five titles an amazing accomplishment, but how much of that was the dominant car and the fact that his teammate's balls are contractually cut off and not allowed to race him? He effectivly has both cars at his disposal at Ferrari as his teammate works for him in essence. McLaren is the only team to truly oppose Ferrari on a consistent basis and they were on the decline after Mika retired. It took them years to get thier package right and last year they were nowhere until the final third of the year. Same goes for Williams who have been out to lunch for several years now including last. Renault seems to have developed along with Alonso and will be strong. Same for Kimi. Other than JV who was really in the field that was a proven winner? Other than JV, how has not had a good car in a while, there have been no other world champs in the field since 2000. DC did as well as he could be he was missing something that made him a real match for MS. The old arguement remains what real competiton did he really have? He might have lost a step and no one really noticed because of having a dominant car. The car is garbage this year but when has he really looked like the MS of old? The 96 F310 was garbage in 96 too but he managed to win 3 races and 4 poles. He was magic that year and that has been missing this year. That's why people are saying it might be time to pack it in, he used to be able to carry a bad car especially in the rain and now he looks very ordinary at times even in the wet.

 

Ivan Capelli.

 

Well said.

Part of this could be cause he now has to conserve tyres. In '96 and '97 he was very hard on rear tyres (especially) and I can remember him sometimes struggling with rear grip after early special laps, thus he could not even make them last the required 3rd of a race.

But your points are all correct and valid. MS's special years were NOT his Ferrari championship years at all, they were the late 90's.
Pete

 

Even now he has the special low mounted mirrors to keep a watch on rear tire wear.

 

err as said previously if the car is sh*t in 06 then he is out of here. he drives to win WDC's , not to make up the numbers.

giddy up

 

I believe the tire rule has killed MS. Remember how he would always get up front?

MS chills in 2nd or 3rd, keeping touch with the leaders, conserving his tires.
!st and 2nd pit in.
MS goes on a tear, and uses the hell out of whatever was left on those tires. Churns out fast lap after fast lap.
When tires give up, he pits on and gets new ones.
Comes out of pits 8 seconds ahead of the previous leader.

Rinse, lather, repeat 2 or 3 times per race, and MS wins by 10-20 seconds.

He cannot drive MS style this year, because he has to save the tires.

Some of you speculate why he is really fast in the middle of the race.

Middle of the race, he would think he's OK, and drive normal MS style, thus turning out the fast laps. Now that he has used up the tires, they absolutly suck until the end of the race, and he falls back to 7th or 8th. Frankly, I'm anazed that they finished 3rd int he Constructors title. If BAR had gotten its act together earlier in the year, and you take away the USGP tire test points, Ferari would be lucky to finish 5th in the Constructors championship.

However that may not have been a bad thing though, depending on how the "Friday driver" rules are for next year. If that rule stays, it may have actually been a benefit to Ferrari to have that 3rd car on Friday. Being 3rd, they won't get that benefit.

 

Damon Hill went out with a whimper and not a bang. It was pathetic to watch. I wasnt a fan of him before but seeing him tool around in an Arrows and Jordan was pretty sad. In the end he resorted to retiring a particularly good car.

Mika Hakkinen retired when he was still capable of winning - I think he won the second last race he attended. Thus despite a poor season his speed was never in doubt when he left.

The same can be said of Michael this year - his speed was never in doubt. The way he fought in Monaco to move from eighth to seventh by making a banzai move showed his commitment to fight tooth and nail for every point at every race.

But if Ferrari continue to under-perform then then he may not see the point of continuing at all. Besides with the natural ageing process he may not be as fast today as he was a couple years ago. He was streets ahead of the rest but the pursuing pack seem to have caught up

 

was that when he overtook RB ?
if so it was very wrong

 

^ Yeah it was IIRC, same race where Ralfie said older brother is a lunatic.

It does illustrate a good point though that we all bring up, MS has never been into having a competitive teammate. I can't say I blame him entirely, but Prost was much cooler in actually recommending McLaren pick up Senna than Schumi is trying to keep the whole team to himself. It's a shame that it is a MS or ____ situation, the team would logically do better if there were a few years of overlap between MS's leadership and the future's. We'll see though what the next few years bring, at least RB is gone.

 

Banzai move? it was more a chicken sh$t move overtaking your own teammate when the race is pretty much over. While RB should have had his eyes open, MS was wrong to do it. Besides all he had to do was radio in and have him move over................ I wish RB had taken him out.

 

I've always been under the impression the race was over at the finish line... maybe I'm mistaken. I guess KR's pass last weekend was pretty stupid too, I mean, the race was almost over and he only had two points to gain... Oh wait, but that's the whole point of racing...

So, let's get this straight, F1 isn't castarated enough by financial and marketing agendas for your liking, and as a result, we should encourage spineless vacuums in the racing world like RB and discourage racers like MS. Funny, I'd be curious to see where you'd group Senna, Prost, G. Villeneuve, etc. (here's a hint, they would have passed RB too...).

 

It was a chicken sh$t move mainly because the only person he would have been able to pull that on was RB. It was in a tight spot and without the other driver's total cooperation it would not have worked. MS knew this and knew RB would not oppose him. If it have been any other driver other than his teammate he would have taken both cars out. How much bravery does it take to do that? Yeah a real racer.

 

You really think Rubens would take somebody out? Doubtful, IMO. But I agree with those who say it's about racing, and if RB isn't "finishing" the race up to the line, then it's his problem for getting passed. I mean, you've got two cars with supposed identical engines and weight, so Schumi out raced him. I don't see what's wrong with that. And as far as Ralfie goes, grow up. You're in F1, the big boy series. Expect passes all over the track, and don't whine when your 7-time Champion brother in a faster car comes past you. You're a slower driver in a slower car. Deal with it.

 

Rubens would probably not purposely take anyone out. But seeing MS in his mirrors he would be thinking well he won't try anything silly and put both cars in danger. If it had not been MS he probably would have guarded his position more closely. If it were any other driver MS wouldn't have even tried it because he knew it wouldn't work. I feel he took advantage of his teammate and i'm sure by his comment later, RB felt the same way. Not a brave or wonderful over taking manuever, just a case of catching RB by surprise and probably the reason why RB decided not to come back, IMO.