Felipe Massa

Brilliant driver on his day but is he championship material?

In 2008 he proved he was but thats only one occassion, plus that season the Ferrari TBH was a bit quicker and won more races that season. In 2009 he nearly suffered a career ending head-injury and since coming to back to the grid he hasn't really shown that promise he did in 2008.

Don't get me wrong he's a driver i very much like, but i do wonder if he'll be a title challenger again for Ferrari season in season out or if he'll stay at Ferrari much longer?

Whats your thoughts on Massa?
 
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johnnoble1990 said:
I personally wasn't criticising him for today in particular, just the last 2 years.
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Half way through the first of the two years your talking about he nearly died for crying out loud. He was lucky to have only missed half a season. He deserves a bit of warmth and respect if nothing else. Where's your heart? >:(
 
Kewee said:
I've always liked Massa as a person more than a driver. I remember how sporting he was in Brazil when he lost to Hamilton but he was always going to be crushed by Alonso. You probably remember I'm an Alonso fan also but to be honest, I'm the first to admit he's ruthless and was going to take ownership of Ferrari as a driver from the moment he arrived. Massa never stood a chance. In answer to your question. I won't criticize Massa but I do think his days at Ferrari will be over after this season. At the moment Ferrari's greatest strength is Alonso and is the only card they have to play until they sort their car, and even he will struggle for a while yet. :popcorn:
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I'll echo that about Massa, I have some (in the pub but utterly reliable) history with someone from his camp (very useful for the inside track when he got hit in the head) and Massa is old-fashioned in his respect and sportsman-like behaviour even when it's not necessarily in his best interests.
And he won't be the first or last driver to be crushed by the team leader at Ferrari, it led Eddie Irvine to leave in 1999, for example.
 
Kewee said:
Half way through the first of the two years your talking about he nearly died for crying out loud. He was lucky to have only missed half a season. He deserves a bit of warmth and respect if nothing else. Where's your heart? >:(
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Well it's not made him any faster. There is no long term damage that we know of and that accident is in the past. I nearly died riding my bike to work two years ago but I don't demand respect for it and I don't expect my employers to see it a reason for keeping me on if I am not up to the job. Hence, what point are you making?

Massa's crash was in 2009, by the way.
 
ExtremeNinja said:
Well it's not made him any faster. There is no long term damage that we know of and that accident is in the past. I nearly died riding my bike to work two years ago but I don't demand respect for it and I don't expect my employers to see it a reason for keeping me on if I am not up to the job. Hence, what point are you making?

Massa's crash was in 2009, by the way.
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He ran competitively alongside Schumacher and Raikkonen before Alonso arrived on the scene and if Hamilton hadn't made his pass on the last lap in Brazil he would have been World Champion. He's a decent man who's given valuable service to Ferrari for many years. He has my respect if not yours. By the way, he doesn't demand respect, I just believe he's earned it.
 
I do respect him, but not because he got hit on the head with a spring. It's been great having him around but it's pretty obvious that there is no sensible reason to keep him around. (P.S. It was you demanding his respect)
 
ExtremeNinja said:
I do respect him, but not because he got hit on the head with a spring. It's been great having him around but it's pretty obvious that there is no sensible reason to keep him around. (P.S. It was you demanding his respect)
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I wasn't demanding he be respected, I said he deserved respect. There's a big difference between the meaning of the two words demand and deserve. My sympathies to you for your obviously bad accident but respectfully, I think coming back from an accident to drive an F1 car is probably just a little more demanding than riding a bike. :thinking:
 
Why would you make that assumption? I was at the top of my sport, as was Filipe. They may be different sports but the demands and levels of competition are just as great, and the dangers are far greater.
 
The world of F1 has been all the better for Massa having been in it, as at diffferent times for Thierry Boutsen, Jos Verstappen, Johnny Herbert, Ricardo Patrese, Johnny Dumfries, Alex Wurtz and a boatload of others who never took a WDC or people like Eddie Irvine, Paul Stoddart or Lord Hesketh who never took a WCC (all names are representative examples).

Though i'm still having a real problem in thinking I'll remember Kathikeyan in those terms, if at all, except in joke terms, like Andrea Moda.
 
I totaly agree that Felipe Massa was sporting, I liked him as a person.
The incident that nearly kiled him is indelibly printed in my mind. At the time, I had been staying with my son & was setting off home at 4am on race day. One hour into my journey.. I heard on the news tht FM was out of danger & should be ok. I tel my son & we thanked any powers that there might be........
Last season I thought that Felipe was being used...though I did say...at least he has not been asked to put his car into the wall.
A couple of years ago, I suggested Felipe as a team-mate for LH, I think it could have worked...no way would Lewis have used Felipe.....LH gets his adrenaline buzz from winning fair & square....
As Boris Becker said " It's not the winning, it's the way you play the game"
 
johnnoble1990 said:
I personally wasn't criticising him for today in particular, just the last 2 years.
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Kewee said:
Half way through the first of the two years your talking about he nearly died for crying out loud. He was lucky to have only missed half a season. He deserves a bit of warmth and respect if nothing else. Where's your heart? >:(
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He did have an accident where he could've lost his life, but that was 2 seasons ago, it cannot be used for a reason for his lack of pace now and it seems to me that Massa is only getting worse. I never thought Massa was any good though, but it is more recent that this has been proven.
 
Kewee said:
He ran competitively alongside Schumacher and Raikkonen before Alonso arrived on the scene and if Hamilton hadn't made his pass on the last lap in Brazil he would have been World Champion. He's a decent man who's given valuable service to Ferrari for many years. He has my respect if not yours. By the way, he doesn't demand respect, I just believe he's earned it.
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You have made your point very well, but I don't personally agree. I think the grid is over-filled with talent at the moment and don't think one of the places in the biggest team should be filled simply based on something a driver did 3 or more years ago.
 
I don't think Felipe is at his best any more. But then I think he has good company on the grid with others due that statement.

Bottom line, Massa made it through a quali session his teammate did not. Was his teammate taking undue risks to achieve the faster time? We'll never know to what extent that's true, but they're reasonably in touch on the grid so let's see how they react to the endurance event rather than the sprint.

I hope Felipe's got it in him to push Fernando through the season, fear he hasn't, but don't think I've seen enough yet to be sure either way.
 

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