83 replies to this topic

[Massa]

This is a big test for Maldonado, not that he really needs to be tested because his drive will always be guaranteed.  Williams should be a lot higher in the WCC.  That said, I want Maldonado to set an all-time record for lowest-classified race winner at season's end just for the fun of witnessing something significant, so I hope he doesn't score any points.

McLaren is 29 behind Red Bull for the WCC, and Hamilton 37 behind Alonso for the WDC.  If nothing happens in the race, it would be 13 in the WCC and 22 in the WDC.

Speaking of projected numbers, someone's likely to hit 10,000 posts this weekend.  I'll make the top line of all my posts in white text to make them "bald" in tribute.

[Ikyrotz]

The Mercs decided to not run in Q3, I guess a sensible call given that it was not too likely for them to qualify any higher than that. Any news on why Kimi was not able to push faster on his last run, he was faster on used super softs than on new ones?

[LabradoRacer]

Stunning pole by Hammy. Hope he wins.

Good quali by Pastor. Hope he sticks to abusing children and not Hamilton. Oh wait...

Vettel will find it hard to finish higher than 2nd.

Good quali by di Resta too.

Webber likely to take the fight to Alonso at the start. He's got nothing to lose.

Kimi will finish ahead of Grosjean, probably.

Surprised that Schumi qualified ahead of Rosie yet again. Even with the tyre preservation in Q3, it will be a miracle if either Mercedes scores a point.

[JHS18]

Bored of McLaren now. They, or Hamilton, are long overdue a c#ckup.

And yes of course I say that because I'm bitter Vettel didn't get pole.

Although in fairness, given what has happened before, row two is probably the safest place to start. A Hamilton/Maldonado front row is an almost guaranteed first corner crash.

[AleHop]

Interesting race tomorrow.

McLaren have been strong everywhere since Hungary. Ferrari have to make the car improve in Qly ASAP or 37 points will disappear in a very steady and fast way. Red Bull can still win it and they could finish ahead of Ferrari quite often.

[LabradoRacer]

Massa's relative lack of pace, as evidenced by his quali, is absolutely dreadful. Seems he knows he's not going to be in Ferrari next year and it's affecting him.

[Massa]

I think Massa really can't handle reality, sometimes.  It's like he's hurt by being asked to move out of Alonso's way, despite the fact that at this point, it should be blatantly obvious to him that it's going to happen.

He's always been impossible to figure.  There are so many reasons his poor performances should be better, and so many reasons his good performances should be worse.

Kovalainen wears red next year.  He won't be much better, but he'll be cheaper, and he won't let it hurt him mentally because being number two at Ferrari is a lot better than being the chosen one at Caterham.  I think Massa takes things too personally; maybe because Ferrari made things personal when they let him lead, I don't know.  Massa's some percentage of the driver Alonso is, and then he's usually only some percentage of the driver Massa is, and it really gets ugly.  I can never really figure out if Massa's trying way too hard (like he was in Montréal) or if he's phoning it in.  He's truly a mess to watch.

[JHS18]

I think the other guy who stood out as having a dreadful session, well, dreadful weekend really, is Senna.

Hit the wall yesterday in practice. Hit the wall TWICE today in qualifying. Pressure getting to him?

He comes across as a really nice guy, but I've always thought he has been aided with his name. Would he be in F1 if his surname wasn't "Senna"? I'm not sure.

Must be hard for Bottas to not be laughing his a## off.

[Quiet One]

Massa's as frail of mind as I am. And I have no mind so I cannot be frail. HA!

Alonso made a good point, not when berating other drivers, I think that was poor for of him, but when he spoke about Massa's achievements, dubious as they are. This is a guy who had Kimi, Schumi and Alonso nonetheless as team mates. Not an easy task for any driver on the grid, yet somehow he carried it with some success and whatever little dignity you can extract from that. Talking about his accident (Barrichello had a far more horrific shunt in his early days, in the time of the death of his great friend Ayrton) yet nobody used that as an excuse. He was also told to move over for Schumi in the final stages of a race he was winning comfortably, not in the opening laps of a race in a car wobbling side to side in a desperate attempt to hold onto a position in front of his team mate. And he has to accomodate for a totally different way of driving than he was used to.

If you think those two incidents really destroyed Massa, then you think very little of the ittle man.

A man with so fragile a mind wouldn't have withstand the pressure of Schumi, yet he was never that far behind. Would never have automatically taken place when Kimi's performance took a big dip and almost carry over to win a chamiopnship (granted, with a little help from Hammy which made almost everything at hand to lose it)

Truth is, he is not a great driver without the perfect car. The best you can say if you think  that Kimi and Schumi were not really that worse than Alonso is that years as an errand boy took his toll nd perhaps his lack of adaptability has been hurt by both rules changes and the way the car was adapted to Alonso hurting him more than cars adapted to Schumi and/or Kimi (whatever that means, as it will be an assumption as valid as the accident one)

Massa is a very limited driver and always has been. For all his good natured personality and dignity in his moments of defeat, he certainly deserves a good ending to his career. And in that sense, Ferrari has shown no ungratefulness as no other team would have coped with such an overpaid driver for so much time that brought absolutely no benefits to either Alonso or Ferrari (no, being worse than Alonso per se is of no benefit to him, unless the guy is at least capable to take the fight to the other contenders).

He was supported well beyond the line of mere diplomacy for reasons w cannot fully comprehend. Not a bad way to go.

[Quiet One]

JHS18, on 22 September 2012 - 06:07 PM, said:

I think the other guy who stood out as having a dreadful session, well, dreadful weekend really, is Senna.

Hit the wall yesterday in practice. Hit the wall TWICE today in qualifying. Pressure getting to him?

He comes across as a really nice guy, but I've always thought he has been aided with his name. Would he be in F1 if his surname wasn't "Senna"? I'm not sure.

Must be hard for Bottas to not be laughing his a## off.

Yup, Bruno has been a big disappointment for me. I had great expectations, darned be his uncle! He looks like a useful #2, though. That is the kind of guy most people would expect to go to Ferrari, which would not be such a bad idea after all. The guy is capable to bring the car home if not trying too hard (in  that sense, more consistent than Maldonado) but appears to be terminally slow.

A good squire but not a knight.

P.S:: Hey Eric, I just realized what you meant about the 10,000 posts

Geez...that's a lot of crap I wrote. Ok, will try to make a memorable 10,000th post for you all.

[Massa]

I totally understand your points on Massa, but at the same time, I think he's mentally weaker than he used to be.  Back in 2006 and 2007, he did have to lose to Schumacher and Räikkönen at times, sure, and crushingly so in his home race in 07.  But I think he expected that, and in 2008 and 2009, once he got the taste of leading a team, it changed him.  There he was, the guy who improbably beat Räikkönen, could have should have would have been a WDC.  Then he comes back and he's even more of a number two than ever before.

I don't think his accident changed him at all; we agree there.  But I think the situation he came into after his accident had to hurt.  He got to be number one, now he wasn't, and he had worked so hard to return only to never get to fully return (by winning a race).  I'm not in Massa's head (sometimes, I don't think there's anything in his head ); it's all speculative crap.  It's just the only speculative crap that makes much sense to me.  I can't imagine it feels good to beat Räikkönen (whether that was on merit or on favor) only to have the team say "okay, we're getting Alonso."  That's a vote of no confidence.  It can't feel good to come so close to a WDC and now be told you'll never get to run for one ever again.  I don't think he goes into every race thinking "waaah this is awful" but I also feel like he has a lot of setbacks whenever he's progressing.

As a fan, it's easy to say it was just never meant to be for Felipe Massa.  As Felipe Massa, it probably wouldn't be.

I like Massa a lot, of course, so I'll always be overly critical of his every move.  My opinions mean little, especially speculative ones like this.

[Rainmaster]

Agree with Massa about Massa.

[LabradoRacer]

Was that the curvy Katy Perry?

[Quiet One]

No, that was Massa Sr.

Oh, wait, you meant the other one? Yes, that was her.

[LabradoRacer]

Seems there's some problem with Schumi's car. He was told over the radio to cool the car. Losing a lot of time on each lap.

[LabradoRacer]

Absolutely no incidents. Who're the doppelgangers of Grosjean & Pastor?

[LabradoRacer]

Vettel taking the fight to Looie. Nice.

[LabradoRacer]

WHAT AN EXCITING RACE!

[LabradoRacer]

Oh ****, Lewis out. Lady luck to Alonso's rescue again.

[Quiet One]

Gearbox problems for Ham, apparently. Losing a cahmpionship on reliability issues: McLaren long honoured tradition.

Alonso smells blood and goes for the attack. The finger is back?

Stay tuned!

[Quiet One]

Narain to Ferrari 2013?

[Quiet One]

ONE RACE BAN FOR THE ROOKIE MERCEDES DRIVER WITH THE BIG CHIN!!!!!!!!

[LabradoRacer]

Schumi

[LabradoRacer]

Schumi's Singapore jinx continues.

[LabradoRacer]

Quiet One, on 23 September 2012 - 01:27 PM, said:

ONE RACE BAN FOR THE ROOKIE MERCEDES DRIVER WITH THE BIG CHIN!!!!!!!!

It does seem it's Schumi's fault. He braked hard, but too late.

[LabradoRacer]

Irritating to see Button complain about Vettel.

[LabradoRacer]

Seems race will go no more than 55/56 laps.

[Ikyrotz]

Gotta give some love to Massa too, that was a spectacular save and pass on Senna at the same time!

[Quiet One]

EJ on the podium! My eyes, my eyes!!!!!!!

[AleHop]

Before the race I thought only reliability can stop McLaren from winning both titles and my thoughts haven't changed.

It's been a great result for Vettel. Now he's 100% back in the fight and he has some points to manage against Hamilton.

Alonso has done a good damage limitation weekend but I doubt he can keep the lead much longer if they can't fight for the win very often now.