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Thread: Formulaonetalk article on Felipe

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    Formulaonetalk article on Felipe

    I found this article and was heartened to find something out there written in a positive way about Massa.
    This is a positive thread and is not posted here to kick off another comparison row between our two drivers. I loved the positivity of this hence the reason for posting.
    I hope I will not regret it!!!!!!

    Felipe Massa just missed out on the title in 2008, but from there has done nothing. In the sixth of my nine part series on the grid's best drivers, I ask how can he improve?
    There are two things which in my opinion have affected Felipe Massa's career more than any other. The first is the 2nd November 2008. Felipe Massa was seven points behind Lewis Hamilton in the race for the championship, with just one race left, at Brazil. Massa took pole and drove a storming race, possibly his best ever, to win in the wet, and on the last lap, he was in a position to win the title: as he crossed the line for victory, Hamilton was in sixth. In the dying corners, on the last lap, Lewis Hamilton passed a struggling Timo Glock for fifth place, and with that, took the World Championship from Massa on the last lap. Jubilation in the Ferrari garage turned to despair as they realised Hamilton had beaten Massa by just one point. Massa's behaviour after this was impeccable. He praised Hamilton, and celebrated his stunning race victory in a professional and mature style. I was so impressed with him, and tipped him for the championship in 2009.
    

    However, in 2009, Ferrari's car, the F60, was awful. Brawn GP and Red Bull had taken over, while McLaren, Ferrari and BMW Sauber, the three contenders in 2008, were left in the midfield. Still Massa drove excellently and never once let his frustration at the poor car get on top of him, and got on with the job. He got next to no recognition for his driving in 2009, but BBC Commentator described him as “like a good wine – he just keeps getting better and better.” Massa took points finishes in Spain, Monaco, Turkey and Britain, before a brilliant podium in Germany. Then however, came the second event which changed his career, and probably his life as well. This event was on the 25th July 2009, where Massa was in sixth place in Q2 at Hungary, and on a lap, when cameras showed him crashing heavily into the wall at Turn Four. A spring from the car of Rubens Barrichello, which was ahead of him at the time, came out of Barrichello's Brawn and struck Massa in the head, smashing through his helmet and knocking him unconscious. After this horrendous injury, Massa didn't race in the rest of the 2009 season, and when he was seen waving the chequered flag at the Brazilian Grand Prix, a scar above his eye was clearly visible. When Massa returned in 2010 with Ferrari, he would be partnered by Fernando Alonso. At this point, an argument could've been made for Ferrari having the sports two best drivers, and certainly two of the best out there.
    
    Massa's return started perfectly: Out qualifying Alonso at Bahrain and starting 2nd on the grid. However, when Alonso easily passed Massa on the inside of Turn One for 2nd place, the next two years at Ferrari were set. Alonso won that race by 16 seconds from his team mate. Massa's start to the 2010 season was very good, and after the third race at Malaysia he led the World Champiknship. This didn't last long though, and Alonso soon began to get ahead of him. After the British Grand Prix, Massa was in eighth place in the championship. Then at the German Grand Prix, Ferrari found some pace, and Alonso qualified 2nd, with Massa 3rd. But Massa got the best start, and took advantage of Vettel and Alonso's brawl to lead into Turn One. Very controversially, on Lap 49, Massa let Alonso through for the lead, as a reaction to the radio message "Fernando is faster than you. Can you confirm you understood that message?" Massa knew what it meant and let Alonso through. Some people say that this was the moment which really hurt him the most, but his performances improved from Germany, with 4th places in Hungary and Belgium, followed with a 3rd in Italy. Massa was on the podium again in Korea, meaning he finished the championship in sixth place. In 2011, Massa needed to improve and get closer to Alonso, after a disappointing 2010, finishing sixth while Alonso was the runner-up. However, 2011 was even worse, and a disaster season saw him take no podiums, while Alonso got 10, and finishing a massive 139 points behind Alonso. He had a very poor season indeed, and it was marred with his many collisions with Lewis Hamilton. In Monaco, Britain, Singapore, Japan and India the two came together, with a reaction in Singapore to the collision which, in my opinion, was very immature and unnecessary.

    So, is Massa really that bad? No. Like with Hamilton's 2011 season, you don't just lose talent, and Massa is still talented. He was excellent in 2008 and 2009, and clearly the injury had a bad effect on him. Whether he will win another race or not is a tough one, but he has the ability to. I don't think he's in the same league as Alonso, Vettel or Hamilton, but with a bit more pace and just getting closer to Alonso, he could be a winner again. Massa is still a strong defender, as he proved by keeping Jenson Button behind him in Australia, and Fernando Alonso in Korea for a long time. The main things he needs to improve on are qualifying and overtaking. Having said that, he did seem to have a lot of bad luck in 2011. His 2011 season was all over the place, but he knows that, and he knows he is now fighting hard for his seat at Ferrari. He is still a talented driver, and I hope he can re-find his 2008 form, because it would be very sad to think that the injury caused his downturn.

    Over the next few weeks I will be looking at the six world champions on the grid, as well as three other drivers in top teams, in articles like this, as we prepare for the start of the season.
    Posted by DANIEL DAYKIN at 11:25
    http://formulaonetalk.blogspot.com/2...e-improve.html
    Last edited by racingbradley; 18th February 2012 at 13:38.


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  2. #2
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    Good fair article.

    Thanks for sharing. I would love to see Massa battle Alonso for the title, and if Massa wins it eventhough I prefer Alonso, I wouldn't mind it as his car is red. :)

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    Sorry for the double post. Somehow the edit feature won't allow me to delete it as well...

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    Have edited your thread title RB... in case some people took it too literally and started listing ways for Massa to improve
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    Quote Originally Posted by Suzie View Post
    Have edited your thread title RB... in case some people took it too literally and started listing ways for Massa to improve
    Thanks a lot Suzie. Must admit I wasn't too happy with the title and was a bit hesitant about posting just in case it started another driver war.
    There again I thought some people might like to read it.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Omegablue View Post
    Good fair article.

    Thanks for sharing. I would love to see Massa battle Alonso for the title, and if Massa wins it eventhough I prefer Alonso, I wouldn't mind it as his car is red. :)
    +1

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    I would rather like to see Felipe do the talking on the track. In 2011 he had been on the talk way too much and looking for excuses. I wish he wins more races this time and proves the critics (including me) wrong.

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    Don't think he should stop talking, I think he spoke pretty honestly about his problems last season and was not making excuses.
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    Quote Originally Posted by Suzie View Post
    Have edited your thread title RB... in case some people took it too literally and started listing ways for Massa to improve
    I bet they still do it.


    Don't play dumb with me. I'm better at it than you are.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Greig View Post
    Don't think he should stop talking, I think he spoke pretty honestly about his problems last season and was not making excuses.
    Very true. We don't want him to morph into a Kimi.


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    Quote Originally Posted by REDARMYSOJA View Post
    I bet they still do it.
    Yeah
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    Felipe will not stop being a real racer...the guy had a couple of really bad things go on there...
    I wish him a great 2012 and hope he wins the WDC. Go Felipe!

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    And here's another Alonsofan wishing Felipe a great 2012 season. Go for wins again Felipe, you deserve it and what's more important: you can do it!
    You can run like the wind, but you'll never outrun the Prancing Horse

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    Go Felipe! i really hope he can aproach fernando's pace. He starts out behind his teammates, when they are champions, it was this way with villeneuve, schumacher, kimi, he then found his way around that.

    If it was never easy to be a teammate of a WDC winner, and occasionally beat him, I think Alonso is probably the hardest teammate anyone could face.

    This is why I think Ferrari has kept Felipe, as this article pointed out, after the work he did in 2008 and 2009, one doesn't just lose talent.

    Maybe it's not Felipe being too bad, Maybe it's just Fernando being too good. I think in the present you can take anyone driver from the grid, and pair it with Alonso, and whoever that is, won't even come close.

    I think that the way 2010 started out for Felipe was very bad, it was just right after the crashgate, which had a big impact on him (and would have done the same to any other driver). He was coming back from a bad injury, he was about 6 months (or more) away from races. He comes back to have a teammate that is at his best form. and there was this huge weight on his shoulder, people saying he needed to have the same pace as fernando or else he was going to lose his seat.

    The reason i beleive he will do a great season this year is because, at this point, he has nothing left to lose, if he doesn't go for it he will be replaced, and with the way f1 is, he could leave ferrari and be simply without a seat at all for 2013, so really, it's now or never for him. if he takes this aproach, a weird aproach i must admit, but just think how Fernando is the one everyone expects to do well, that people are already counting felipe out of the game.

    Alot of stress in 2011, specially with hamilton, I say go have some fun this season, go drive for the fun of it, and the pride of driving a ferrari, and things will come his way. there is talent, he just needs to connect the dots.


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    Quote Originally Posted by Poltergeistes View Post
    Go Felipe! i really hope he can aproach fernando's pace. He starts out behind his teammates, when they are champions, it was this way with villeneuve, schumacher, kimi, he then found his way around that.

    If it was never easy to be a teammate of a WDC winner, and occasionally beat him, I think Alonso is probably the hardest teammate anyone could face.

    This is why I think Ferrari has kept Felipe, as this article pointed out, after the work he did in 2008 and 2009, one doesn't just lose talent.

    Maybe it's not Felipe being too bad, Maybe it's just Fernando being too good. I think in the present you can take anyone driver from the grid, and pair it with Alonso, and whoever that is, won't even come close.

    I think that the way 2010 started out for Felipe was very bad, it was just right after the crashgate, which had a big impact on him (and would have done the same to any other driver). He was coming back from a bad injury, he was about 6 months (or more) away from races. He comes back to have a teammate that is at his best form. and there was this huge weight on his shoulder, people saying he needed to have the same pace as fernando or else he was going to lose his seat.

    The reason i beleive he will do a great season this year is because, at this point, he has nothing left to lose, if he doesn't go for it he will be replaced, and with the way f1 is, he could leave ferrari and be simply without a seat at all for 2013, so really, it's now or never for him. if he takes this aproach, a weird aproach i must admit, but just think how Fernando is the one everyone expects to do well, that people are already counting felipe out of the game.

    Alot of stress in 2011, specially with hamilton, I say go have some fun this season, go drive for the fun of it, and the pride of driving a ferrari, and things will come his way. there is talent, he just needs to connect the dots.
    +1 Poltergeistes. Fully agree.

    I do agree when you say that you can take any driver on the grid right now, and put them in Felipe's place, and none of them will be able to consistently even match Alonso, let alone beat him.

    Also, I think in a weird way, a lot of the pressure will be off him this year because so many people have seemingly written him off even before the season has begun. So as you say, he can just go out there and enjoy his racing, and if the car is performing well, I think he will click.

    The future is RED

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    Its not as though Felipe, at times, hasn't been able to match Nando, and even beat him. IMO Felipe has had a horrid run of luck to boot.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NJB13 View Post
    Its not as though Felipe, at times, hasn't been able to match Nando, and even beat him. IMO Felipe has had a horrid run of luck to boot.
    he has been close to fernando in laptimes, during q sessions and during races, the difference is being in my opnion, he and rob almost always had their racing strategy blown by something that wasnt their fault, something that was out of teir hands.

    Felipe has been having bad luck for so long now, i just wish it would be balanced luck, doesn't ave to be all good luck to im, but simply a little less bad luck.

    and luck is not someting rob or felipe can fix (or anyone else for that matter).

    If good luck is when preparation meets opportunity, bad luck has nothing to do with any of those.


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    Y'know...it's darkest before dawn
    Mark Webber: "If you push to try and pass you kill the tyres but if you wait, then you find you're on the same strategy and finish behind them anyway".

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    Quote Originally Posted by Nathan View Post
    Y'know...it's darkest before dawn
    Oooooh if only lady luck shares your opinion. it's never been sooooooo important as right now.


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    You can't blame everything everytime on luck.
    I really hope he can pull it together again this year!
    Best wishes for Felipe.

    And...I hope he can sort out Hamilton this season for keeps!
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