2010 Driver & Chump of the Weekend

[Brogan]

I'm fairly sure snowy was referring to Hamilton

 

[RickD]

Alonso failed sometimes, because he was faster than his car!
But I understand it's not easy to understand it.

But now the car is faster than in the beginning & Fernando will not make more faults

No, he'll just blow an engine (hopefully).

 

[Brogan]

No, he'll just blow an engine (hopefully).

That's about all anyone can hope for now as his driving over the last 2 GPs has been faultless.
Two hat tricks and a grand chelem is about as good as it gets.

 

[ladyinred]

Bad luck with the motor is the only what can hope the Alonso -enemies. Very, very poor!

 

[RickD]

Bad luck with the engine is the only thing, especially as he hasn't got a team mate to have a battle with due to Ferrari team orders..

The other contenders have no team orders at this point..

 

[FB]

In fairness to Alonso, apart from in Germany, Massa hadn't exactly been challenging the Spaniard. Of the 3 top teams Fernando is the only driver to have won in our Head-to-Head competition and this isn't simply down to team orders.

viewtopic.php?f=60&t=1315

 

[RickD]

Well FB, wouldn't you feel like giving up if you know you can't overtake your team-mate or finish ahead of him in any race?

 

[ladyinred]

The other contenders have no team orders at this point..

And tomorrow will come santa Claus!

Teamorder exist in the pass, exist now & will exist in the future and not only in Ferrari.

 

[FB]

Rick D said:

Well FB, wouldn't you feel like giving up if you know you can't overtake your team-mate or finish ahead of him in any race?

Putting to one side any opinions I have on Alonso the man, Alonso the racing driver is in a different class to Massa. Felipe had a good run in 2008 and was very unlucky not to win the title but I think that was the peak of his career. This season he has been beaten into a cocked hat by Alonso and it was inevitable that Ferrari would favour the man most likely to win them a title. I don't agree with what Ferrari did in Germany from a sporting perspective but I can understand why they did from Ferrari's perspective.

If you're suggesting Massa's motivation is gone it's because he's being beaten by a faster driver not because the team doesn't support him.

 

[fat jez]

If you're suggesting Massa's motivation is gone it's because he's being beaten by a faster driver not because the team doesn't support him.

Or he never got his nerve back after his accident last year?

 

[FB]

Indeed...

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

FB said:
Felipe had a good run in 2008 and was very unlucky not to win the title

Where do you get that from?
He had a good run, yes; but unlucky? It was as much down to Raikkonen's mediocre showing, particularly in the middle part of the season, as it was to Massa's good form that he became Hamilton's main challenger for the title. Ok, he had an engine failure at Hungary (where Hamilton also suffered misfortune, to a lesser extent) but he also had two races where he benefitted greatly from dubious stewarding decisions and one where his teammate slowed down to let him past. And he and his team screwed up in the pitlane at Singapore.

 

[FB]

The Kimi conundrum in 2008 is whole different discussion Chad. I take your point, but viewed over the course of the season (without revisting some of the bizarre stewarding decisions which we have discussed ad naseum) to lose the title in the last corner of the last race has to be considered unlucky, doesn't it?

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

FB said:
...to lose the title in the last corner of the last race has to be considered unlucky, doesn't it?

Heartbreaking maybe, but not unlucky. 'Unlucky' suggests that he was deserving of the title and only failed to win it through bad luck, thereby inferring that Hamilton was not deserving. So I would argue that he was not unlucky, or at least that Hamilton was actually more unlucky, due to outside factors, not to have sealed the championship before they even got to Interlagos. If you think that, then you might say that Massa was actually lucky to still be in contention by the time of his home race.

 

[FB]

Luck, like many things in life, has a perspective.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

True. And when it comes to luck I think of Thomas Jefferson's quote (later paraphrased by the likes of golfers Arnold Palmer and Gary Player),
"I'm a great believer in luck, and I find the harder I work the more I have of it."

But then there's the one, that I believe has in the past been quoted about Webber:
"If he didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all"

 

[Brogan]

But then there's the one, that I believe has in the past been quoted about Webber:
"If he didn't have bad luck he'd have no luck at all"

After Singapore I think we can safely say that no longer applies.
How that tyre stayed on until the end of the race I'll never understand.

 

[Chad Stewarthill]

You're damn right there! Damn!

 

[ATL11]

Rick D said:

Well FB, wouldn't you feel like giving up if you know you can't overtake your team-mate or finish ahead of him in any race?

Putting to one side any opinions I have on Alonso the man, Alonso the racing driver is in a different class to Massa. Felipe had a good run in 2008 and was very unlucky not to win the title but I think that was the peak of his career. This season he has been beaten into a cocked hat by Alonso and it was inevitable that Ferrari would favour the man most likely to win them a title. I don't agree with what Ferrari did in Germany from a sporting perspective but I can understand why they did from Ferrari's perspective.

If you're suggesting Massa's motivation is gone it's because he's being beaten by a faster driver not because the team doesn't support him.

Massa's accident aside, I always find him a frustrating driver, with the same kit as Alonso (allegedly) he never seems to get the same out of the car. His ability to drive in the wet almost makes me smirk in that he often finds it hard to keep it on the Tarmac (Silverstone 08/09??).

Controversial, but I find Massa in the driver bracket that hasn't been able to adapt to the F1 changes in the cars as driving became in essence more difficult. e.g. smaller wheels, removing Traction Control. Was he a driver who was good because it was easier when a computer cut in to stop the wheels spinning, etc?

 

[snowy]

Controversial, but I find Massa in the driver bracket that hasn't been able to adapt to the F1 changes in the cars as driving became in essence more difficult. e.g. smaller wheels, removing Traction Control. Was he a driver who was good because it was easier when a computer cut in to stop the wheels spinning, etc?

There was no traction control and all the driver aids that are currently outlawed were illegal in 2008. A season in which Felipe won more races than anyone else, comprehensively beat his team mate Kimi Raikkonen and came within a point of winning the Championship.