Massa is lucky to be alive

[Boyle]

Felipe hasn't had the best luck at Hungary has he? Just look at the record.

2002 - Qualifies 7th. Finishes 7th, only 5 seconds behind Fisichella in 6th and scoring a point.
2003 - Test driver for Ferrari, doesn't participate.
2004 - Qualifies 20th after posting no time. Retires 21 laps into the race with brake problem.
2005 - Qualifies 14th. Finishes 14th and 7 laps down following damage sustained after a fuel spill during his second pit stop on lap 42.
2006 - Qualifies 2nd. Finishes 7th - 1 lap down - and scores his first and only points at the Hungaroring.
2007 - Qualifies 14th. Finishes 13th after an unspectacular drive.
2008 - Qualifies 3rd. Takes the lead by Turn 2 and leads the race until an engine related retirement 3 laps from the end scuppers his chances of an excellent victory.
2009 - Is showing good pace in qualifying until a life threatening accident knocks him unconscious and fractures his skull. He officially qualifies 10th but does not participate in the race.

I wonder next year if he will bother to show given the bad luck he suffers at this place.

 

[Muddytalker]

there are 3 things, bad luck, accidents and stupidity. where stupidity comes in different degrees

one never knows when a bolt will snap, people make mistakes and end up in gravel pits. but to drive around with a wheel when you know the bolts are no longer there... also when a few days before henry surtees died cos of a lose wheel.

i'm sorry, maybe there is such a thing as a calculated risk but nando knew almost 100% sure that wheel would come off. we had horrible accidents with wheels flying around. what was the point and what was nando thinking? a one race ban seems most lenient to me to be honest.i am also seriously disappointed in rubens. ok, we are all gung ho and we are nicely driving as hard as we can but to go out on a track while you know there is something wrong is extremely iffy if not downright stupid. personally, if rubens and nando want to play russian roulette then its not up to me to stop them, good luck guys! but these guys played russian roulette with the other drivers!

how clearer can a signal be? nando knew there were no bolts and that henry surtees dies cos of the same issue. rubens knew there was something wrong. we can take all the safety issues we want but there are no measures to prevent drivers playing russian roulette.

Do we actually know this? I was under the impression that FA suspected a puncture, or at least an issue with the wheel, but so far I'm unaware that he actually "knew there were no bolts".

I'm thinking in particular of the statement from the Stewards, from here

Stewards talked to Renault representatives twice after the race.
The statement said that Renault "knowingly released car no. 7 from the pitstop position without one of the retaining devices for the wheel-nuts being securely in position, this being an indication that the wheel itself may not have been properly secured."
It added that Renault, "being aware of this, failed to take any action to prevent the car from leaving the pitlane....failed to inform the driver of this problem or to advise him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture."

It looked to me as though Alonso also made quite a substantial effort to keep out of other's way whilst bringing the car home at a relatively safe speed. There's not a lot of blame on Alonso coming from this armchair (and even less on Nelson).

With regards to Rubens, he suspected a problem, sure, but it was at the time unidentified. It certainly wasn't slowing him down a great deal ("I still did an okay time through Sector 1"), and with limited time in qualifying, no spare cars, there is pressure on both team and drivers to 'get on with what you have'. For all the praise of MM and his safety drive, there would also appear to be conflicts in this respect. See also the testing ban. Are these also acceptable risks? If not, then the whole circus needs a rethink.

It is often said, you can ask any driver, and if you give them the choice of a fast car or a safe car, they'll choose the fast car every time.

 

[bogaTYR]

muddytalker

already before nando was out of the pitlane it was clear something was wrong. the teams have telemetry, they can see if a tyre is going down or not. i would be more then surprised if nando hadn't start yelling to the team and they would know what was happening. would be even more madness if they hadn't told him.

i agree with your statement about racing, but there are spectators and other people to think about. their safety should come first at all time. the idea that a car is already ifffy before it leaves the pitlane and its allowed t go on is just madness.

same for rubens. you know something is wrong? then stop and have it fixed. why wait until it breaks?

 

[teabagyokel]

It did seem that Alonso was driving the car pretty safely, I get the impression that Fernando is the only driver on the grid who tells his engineers what's going to happen rather than asks.

Then again, the stewards have the car radio, so they could have found no evidence of Alonso being told to "take appropriate action." He may have just done it out of that racers instinct that says "The wheel is falling off!"

Tbh, he looked pretty dissatisfied with the team - he looked like a man who can't wait to see a red nosecone in front of him!

 

[bogaTYR]

i stand corrected on my thoughts on nando.

Renault, say the stewards, 'failed to inform the driver of this problem or advised him to take appropriate action given the circumstances, even though the driver contacted the team by radio believing he had a puncture.'

i still think the punishment is right though, maybe not consistent but at least something was punished.

 

[teabagyokel]

I keep hearing about consistency, but lets face it...

This decision is inconsistent. Imo, that implies they've got it wrong before. Does getting it wrong once ban them from ever getting it right on consistency grounds?

Now in any argument there are words you can say that will make me angry. Those words in an argument on consistency are "Manchester United". Please don't use them freely, as the law of Ferguson - "I can do anything I bloody want and everyone else should be punished for cotton" is not acceptable in any place outside Old Trafford and Maranello.

 

[bogaTYR]

massa is getting better all the time, thank god

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/77434

 

[FB]

According to Massa's website he may well be going home to Brazil on Monday to start his rehab. Good news.

 

[Brogan]

Felipe's first interview since the accident, courtesy of Ferrari.

Q. How do you feel? What do you remember from the accident?

Felipe Massa: "It is sort of a strange feeling. I know exactly what happened, that a spring came off Rubens' car and hit me on the helmet. I know that something happened to me, but I didn't feel anything when it happened. They told me that I lost consciousness at the moment of the spring's impact on my helmet and I ran into the barriers, then I woke up in hospital two days later.

"I don't remember anything and that's why what the doctors did had to be explained to me. When I saw Rob (Smedley, his race engineer), he asked me if I remembered Rubens, but the last thing I remembered was when I was behind him at the end of my fast lap in Q2, and than it's blank. It's difficult to explain. I'm feeling much better now and I want to recover as soon as possible to get back behind the wheel of a Ferrari."

Q. Do you want to thank anyone?

FM: "First of all I want to thank God. Then I want to thank the doctors at the race track and at Budapest's AEK hospital, who have done a lot for me, and Dino Altmann, who came with my family from Brazil and who was extraordinary over the last days. But I also want to thank everybody who prayed and who wrote to me via my own and Ferrari's website, hoping that everything went well.

"So many people wrote to me, also many who aren't interested in Formula 1, but had heard about what happened to me: thank you so much and I want to tell them that I'm praying also for them. I would have done the same if an accident had happened to another driver: I would have prayed for him that everything went well."

Q. How much help was the fact that your family was here over the last days?

FM: "My family is important to me. They have always been close to me during my career, victories and defeats, and the most difficult moments. There was only Edoardo at Budapest, but when the accident happened Raffaela, my father, my mother and then my sister came to Hungary. I know that they've suffered a lot and I want to thank them.

"And then there's another family I have to thank: the Ferrari family. They were great, they helped us in any possible way and it's a great thing to be part of this group."

Q. What's your first wish when you get back to Brazil?

FM: "Coming back to my home, checking that everything is as it was before. Many things have happened over the last days and I want to get back to a normal life. I want to get back into the best possible condition, doing things you do every day."

Q. For a while your car will be driven by Michael Schumacher: do you have any advice for him?

FM: "Michael doesn't need my advice! It was him who gave me many tips during my career when we were racing together. He knows how to win, he knows how to drive and he's great: it was the best choice handing over the car to such a fantastic person and I'm sure that everybody will be happy to see him back on the track again. Although I hope I'll be back on the track with Ferrari as soon as possible."

Video footage available here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/formula_one/8181452.stm