So Felipa Massa wants to have his say… for a man who took it to the wire in 2008 I find this a really sad way to see a F1 career fizzle to nothing. He’s one of the nice guys who through circumstance, and an errant spring, is being forced to tow the Ferrari line.
A Ferrari driver next year? I suspect that’s the carrot that has been dangled in order to get this statement from him.

Sad way to go really

Any driver that voluntarily defers to their team-mate has lost it big time IMO

Hopefully he’s just reading from a Ferrari prepared script

I feel a little sorry for Massa, he is clearly not coping with having FA as a team mate.

But he isn’t doing himself any favours. Kamikaze moves on the grass of Turn 1 in Suzuka aren’t ever likely to end well.

I think he will stay at Ferrari, he know that despite the inherant limitations of being the Scuderia’s number two its the best drive he’ll get.

Unusual isn’t it. After all Alonso normally has such a good track record with team ‘mates’. Similar to Schumachers perhaps, which was also great

I like Massa, but he’s really only ever been a No.2 driver. If Ferrari truly believed he was a championship contender they wouldn’t have brought Alonso in. And as much as it pains me to say it, Alonso has proven he can get a team focused and working around a sole driver again like the Schumacher days.

Anyway, its got to be better to fade away in a Ferrari than a HRT!

I felt he deserved the WC in 2008, as he’d won more races than Hamilton (under the current points system he would have, too) and Hamilton profited from another driver error, rather than winning purely on merit.

But when you bung him up against the class of Alonso, then he’s gonna be really up against it. Interesting that he seemed to have the measure of Raikkonen in 2008, but possibly only because Raikkonen wasn’t really trying.

I’d put him on the same level as Webber, Button, Barrichelo and possibly Vettel. Alonso and Hamilton are the two best in F1 right now I think. Perhaps only Vettel can match them.

Credit where it’s due I think – he turned in a couple of surprisingly good performances at the start of the year, coming back from a horrific injury. Since then I think Nando has been playing mind games and the ‘Fernando is faster than you’ debacle probably wasn’t his first clue that he was firmly in the No2 driver’s seat. Flippy has had some stellar performances over the years and on his day (and the right track) I think he could still leave most of the current contenders in his wake, but I don’t think his heart has been in it for the last half dozen races or so. Hopefully he’ll come back stronger for 2011.

I like him, and I rate him as a driver. I just think he’s been completely undermined this season by Nando’s action.

Someone should stick some chilli sauce on Nando’s head, stick him in a bun and sell him at a well known semi fast food chain.

Tw4t of the highest order.

Eh? Why? 😕

Bit strong mat!

Never rated Massa really, I consider him always an also-ran rather than it being a recent thing. yeah, he’s good, but nothing special in the way that Hamilton, Vettel and dare I say it, Alonso can be.

Vettel, Alonso and Hamilton are the best drivers out there at the moment. I might even put Kubica in that mix. I still rate Massa though. He seems like a good bloke.

Alonso and Hamilton are the two best in F1 right now I think. Perhaps only Vettel can match them.

This ^

although on their day; Button and Webber, Kubica and Massa can be just as good.

F1 is ace at the minute

Kubica has really impressed me this season, his performance are way beyond what you would expect of a merely competent driver in the same car.

One to watch, it would be very interesting to see him in a faster machine but thats unlikely to happen before 2012 as drives in the top 3 teams are all sown up until then.

Nothing unusual in this type of approach from any team if they were facing the situation that Ferrari/ Massa are in. Even in teams where they dont normally run a no1/2 driver they will usually get a driver who cannot win a championship to support the other who has a real chance of lifting it.

Its a shame ’cause Massa is a decent bloke and Alonso isn’t, but they are in it to win it.

Its a shame ’cause Massa is a decent bloke and Alonso isn’t

Eh? How on Earth d’you work that one out? Do you know them personally?

Bit strong mat!

He comes across as a spoilt moaning brat regardless of his driving talent (which is “a lot”)

Name an F1 driver that doesn’t!!! If you ask me, it’s Little Lewis that’s thrown his toys out of the pram more than anyone else, in the last couple of years.

Vettel is a superb qualifier & up there with the best at hitting his marks & getting the lap times, as a racer? good but not in the top 3

As others have said Alonso & Hamilton have a small but significant advantage over the rest as all round race drivers

God it makes me laugh. People that think any multi-million dollar sport at the highest level is a popularity contest. And people that think a career is over just because someone has come second.

For starters there’s nothing wrong with coming second to the best driver in the world, which Alonso clearly is.

Secondly, there’s no reason to scupper your team-mate’s chances – that would be totally unprofessional, and it’s a team sport.

People that think any multi-million dollar sport at the highest level is a popularity contes

Like Alonso at McLaren you mean? 😉

It’s the way it is and has been for a very long time.

I felt he deserved the WC in 2008, as he’d won more races than Hamilton (under the current points system he would have, too) and Hamilton profited from another driver error, rather than winning purely on merit.

Hamilton finished 1st more races than massa in 2008.
It was down to a stewards descision that reversed the number of race wins.

As to the last race – Timo Glock was trying to do what Hamilton and Kimi had done in belgium, take a gamble on slicks in the wet. in Brazil it didnt pay off.

had 2008 been run with a driver on the steward panel (like 2010), Hamilton may well have kept his race win in Belgium, and thus would have had 102 points to Massa’s 95. He was found guilty of breaking a rule the FIA made AFTER the race.

As it was then, you couldnt gain an advantage from cutting a corner. Hamilton let Kimi past after the corner. therefore no advantage gained. a judgement was then given for the next race that you had to wait another corner till you tried to pass again.

keeping the standings as they are from 2008, but given 2010 points system. Hamilton would have had 243points, and Massa would have had 231, making Hamilton’s WC more assured (had he not passed Timo, he would still have been on 241pts, heck he could have crashed out and still won the championship!).

I might even put Kubica in that mix.

Might?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/9080455.stm

moto gp is better 😉

Kubica is on another level. If he was in a top car they wouldn’t see which way he went.

You’d hope he just followed the track 🙂

Quite a good explanation or view on Massa and why he’s not performing like in 2008 – basically, FA has got to him…

http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2010/10/why-would-massa-help-alonso/

I like Massa. I dont think hes good enough for a title though. Hes very much in the same mould as Eddie Irvine interms of his own near miss with a title. Good but not a great.

No offence to either of the Redbull Drivers but neither of those deserve the title either. Much as I loathe that ‘driver’ I think he deserves to go on and win considering how much he came from behind. Most folk who be irratic. Yes he got the extra points gifted however if he wins by more than this- he deserves it…