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Emmcee

What Now For Massa?

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It's no surprise seeing the stories about Maldonado losing his seat. Even if his contract is a one way thing, granting Wiliams the power to terminate his seat, they aren't going to let him drive if PDSVA haven't paid them either.

PDSVA's sponsorship was Hugo Chevez's tool to try to stick it to the USA and win him brownie points with all the other despots and crooks running countries around the world like N Korea, Libya, Syria and Russia.

Once he kicked the bucket, and a new leader was put in, there was already word they were going to do away with PDSVA's involvement in sponsoring motorsport and other activities.

Maldonado might deserve a seat somewhere else, but he would never have got into F1 without his $40m backing I feel. I won't miss him, and will always think of him as that dangerous idiot who on a few occasions rammed his car into other drivers cars due to losing his cool. As far as I'm concerned, he's on borrowed time anyway.

Massa is better than Maldonado anyway, so it can only be good for Williams if they pick him up, provided no other driver is available.

Still don't like how Heidfeld isn't in F1, and I wasn't even really a fan of his.

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I'd be very careful before making statements like the one you made about PDVSA.

PDVSA is state-owned, but state-owned things still advertise, especially when they operate outside of that one state, as PDVSA does. The sponsorship program 1) advertised PDVSA to an international audience and 2) helped support Venezuelan athletes in an internationally visible channel. One does not need to agree with the politics of Venezuelan leaders to accept that PDVSA sponsorship is pretty benign.

So, why is it on hold? Fraud by the drivers. It's an investigation, and it's a serious one, not some "cover-up" to cut the funding. Serious enough that E.J. Viso, and IndyCar driver, is straight-up "missing." No one knew where he was last I had checked on the situation.

Basically, currency was given to the drivers to fund racing activities at a favorable rate. Some drivers turned around and traded that currency at the normal rate for a big gain, pocketing the gain for themselves while using the rest to fund racing adventures. In other cases, drivers exaggerated the costs needed to go racing, and some may have made up entirely fictitious racing activities. One case appears to involve forged documents. So, the state may have been defrauded by some of the recipients. Until that investigation is over, PDVSA and the other Venezuelan entities funding racing drivers cannot make those payments.

Maldonado is not one of the six drivers part of the investigation. The only name I know of is Viso. One could speculate based on some of the other Venezuelan racing drivers who suddenly stopped racing later in the season, or whose teams had different issues, but that would be unfair.

In other words, Maldonado's funding is still good to the full extent of what we are privy to.

That does not mean the funding is perpetual or guaranteed in the future, of course, but if it does go away, it is presently unrelated to what is going on.

Some reading on the situation:

http://www.el-nacional.com/deportes/deportistas-detenidos-fraude-millonario-Cadivi_0_285571556.html (summarized in English here: http://blog.axisofoversteer.com/2013/10/six-racers-held-in-widening-venezuelan.html)

And an older article when this started, which does reference the continuing support of Maldonado:

http://motorsportstalk.nbcsports.com/2013/10/19/in-wake-of-scandal-venezuela-freezes-sponsorship-money-for-drivers/

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This Maldonado seems like an idiot. First I've read a story on him stating he would rather leave f1 than drive another crap car, then I read he is doing what ever it takes just to stay there. Who does this guy think he is? A champion who has 10 offers on the table and can pick whatever he likes. He is already doing a job I'd die for. Bet he has been spoon fed all his life, bloody ungreatful.

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This Maldonado seems like an idiot. First I've read a story on him stating he would rather leave f1 than drive another crap car, then I read he is doing what ever it takes just to stay there. Who does this guy think he is? A champion who has 10 offers on the table and can pick whatever he likes. He is already doing a job I'd die for. Bet he has been spoon fed all his life, bloody ungreatful.

Maldonado won 1 Grand Prix, ONE!!!!!!! and thinks he can run his mouth about turning down F1 drives & racing seats in other racing series?? He's very lucky to have even one F1 team, hell even lucky to have a GP2 team knocking on his door looking to sign him up for 2014. He's a dangerous driver & very lucky to be still racing for a team so well established in F1 like Williams.

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Maldonado won 1 Grand Prix, ONE!!!!!!! and thinks he can run his mouth about turning down F1 drives & racing seats in other racing series?? He's very lucky to have even one F1 team, hell even lucky to have a GP2 team knocking on his door looking to sign him up for 2014. He's a dangerous driver & very lucky to be still racing for a team so well established in F1 like Williams.

yep, well said. I can't see anything decent about Maldonado. Yeah he won in Spain and beat alonso, but how much was that down to his own ability than a fluke of a setup, that made the Williams that quick in the day? I havnt seen anything else close to that performance since from him, which makes me wonder that they just so happened to nail it on the setup. I remember after he won that race, he said he could win the championship. He could have if it was a race back to the pits.

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So it looks like Massa to Williams. I'd like to think this would give Williams a boost that might propel them up the pecking order a bit, but having a good driver in Barrichello barely helped, so as a Williams fan I won't get my hopes up of a revival just yet

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To be honest, I think Williams' driver lineup is fine. Maldonado has proven he can win a Grand Prix when the car is right, and Bottas has shown tons of potential. Replacing Maldonado with Massa be some form of an improvement, but the drivers were not what held this team back. Moreover, losing all of that funding...that just doesn't sound like it will help Williams at all.

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Felipe should simply retire. F1 has given him some glory but also stuff like Hungary 2009. I don't think Massa will get anymore out of F1.

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So it looks like Massa to Williams. I'd like to think this would give Williams a boost that might propel them up the pecking order a bit, but having a good driver in Barrichello barely helped, so as a Williams fan I won't get my hopes up of a revival just yet

Yeah with all of Rubens real experience, it didn't seem to make any difference at Williams. He kept stating that when trying to stay there and also in his attempts to get a seat again but to no avail.

I think Rubens was and is a better driver than Massa personally. But when it comes to Maldonado and Massa, Massa is clearly the better.

He's been outclassing Alsono now for a few races both in quali and the race. Not mush is being said about it, but Alonso really has been looking terrible at least in his qualifying. Down to the change in spec in tyres probably. Yet week in week out, we get Hamilton, and other articles saying how Alonso is still apparently the greatest driver to have ever lived. Anyway that's another topic for another time.

Massa to Williams would be ok, but I'd actually like him to go back to Sauber. That would be a nice finish for him. But they have their eyes set on the Russian tweener and the younger of the two Mexicans. Can't see them going anywhere next year if they don't keep the Hulk around.

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Are people blind? Soon as Rubens leaves, Williams has the worst season in there history. They didnt do to bad last year but that's because Rubens departure hasn't really affected the team, as they built the 2012 car of the data they most likely recieved from Rubens. This year we are seeing the results of a Maldonado developed car, can we see the difference experience makes compared to a large bank account?

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People aren't blind. Williams have sucked for years now. Not since Ralfie and Montoya were in that team have they been on it. They were real race winners back in those days.

Just because they had their worst season after Rubens left doesn't mean they would have done better if he had stayed. The team has been on the decline for along time now. With Patrick Head stepping back and Frank not running the team anymore, they have gone downhill.

Rubens spent quite a few years at Honda and apart from the lucky fluke of 2009 which came about after misfortune, we saw no improvement of that team with him being there. And they had way more money to through at car design than Williams.

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People aren't blind. Williams have sucked for years now. Not since Ralfie and Montoya were in that team have they been on it. They were real race winners back in those days.

Just because they had their worst season after Rubens left doesn't mean they would have done better if he had stayed. The team has been on the decline for along time now. With Patrick Head stepping back and Frank not running the team anymore, they have gone downhill.

Rubens spent quite a few years at Honda and apart from the lucky fluke of 2009 which came about after misfortune, we saw no improvement of that team with him being there. And they had way more money to through at car design than Williams.

The Williams had a half decent car when Rubens was there, atleast better than now. Honda did improve with Rubens being there, they were one of the top 4 teams, soon as villeneuve left, and they acquired Rubens the team did do better. However we did see how good Rubens really was. I mean when he drove for Ferrari and won most of his GPS, he came accross as a much improved driver than his Jordan days. He was but when he joined Honda, I expected him to beat jenson, but it was the other way around. So I do Beleive Rubens made a positive impression both at Honda and Williams, but not enough to really do anything with. The question I've always wanted answered is, would have Rubens won on Spain instead on marinara if he was still in the team?

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IMassa to Williams would be ok, but I'd actually like him to go back to Sauber. That would be a nice finish for him. But they have their eyes set on the Russian tweener and the younger of the two Mexicans. Can't see them going anywhere next year if they don't keep the Hulk around.

I like that idea, Massa to Sauber. He excelled there and everybody likes Sauber. Without Hulkenberg Sauber would've been nowhere this season. Next year they may sign people with cash but unless they have a good replacement (like massa) they will be nowhere again.

p.s. I love it when people expected jenson to lose to rubens, expected him to lose to lewis etc. He's the greatest driver of all time! only joking. 2nd greatest maybe.

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I like that idea, Massa to Sauber. He excelled there and everybody likes Sauber. Without Hulkenberg Sauber would've been nowhere this season. Next year they may sign people with cash but unless they have a good replacement (like massa) they will be nowhere again.

p.s. I love it when people expected jenson to lose to rubens, expected him to lose to lewis etc. He's the greatest driver of all time! only joking. 2nd greatest maybe.

Because in the past, he failed to hold his own. Remember the poles he got in Honda/bar and would loose them at the start? This is where webber must have been paying attention.

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The Honda/Bar cars were all pretty much dogs. Actually in the their earlier years, they seemed to have quicker cars. Sato did well a few times nearly winning a race. But they were on the whole pretty much like the Toyota's. Good enough for quali but awful in the races. These were the years the Trulli Trains were cemented in F1 folklore. I don't recall them when he was driving for Renault.

I really want to see Hulk at McLaren or even back at Force India. I think he's gone about as far as he can go at Sauber. Maybe Hulk back to Williams again? Would be interesting but I think another step back for him.

Sauber really cannot field a russian tweener and the younger mexican for next year. That doesn't spell to me the idea that we want to improve and make inroads, but rather we are really really struggling for funding and might have to sit out a few years while we recover and regroup.

I won't shed a tear if either Perez or Maldonado don't get seats. Then there's Magnussun being mentioned for McLaren. I think the problem there is that their #1 driver really isn't doing that well at the moment. Thus if they had Alonso in their team, having Perez, Magnussun or whoever would be ok. But with Button, and ?? it's not a strong combination.

Anyway, back to Massa. Back to Sauber for him of Williams I suppose. He's probably not got many other options at this point in his career anyway, and I suspect as long as he's not in a Marussia or something, he'll actually be ok with that since he wants to stay in F1.

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Because in the past, he failed to hold his own. Remember the poles he got in Honda/bar and would loose them at the start? This is where webber must have been paying attention.

But it was impressive enough that he got those poles at all, while his team-mates achieved nothing, in a BAR/Honda when up against ferraris and mclarens. Can't be expected to convert it to a win realistically (similar to Hulkenberg's impressive pole in brazil for Williams).

In 2004 he was consistently outperforming the renault drivers who were arguably in a better car, and often Ferrari's only competitor (whilst Sato was consistently nowhere); and in 2005 he dragged the pants car onto the podium a few times. I suppose as a fan I would've noticed and remembered these things more than most. For example I remember the 2005 Belgian GP where JB was outstanding lol

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I am no Ferrari fan, but I must admit that they managed to give Felipe a champion's farewell.

Dumped? yes. Unceremoniously? Nope.

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Very nice to see this, this to me shows, that Ferrari really didnt want to get rid of Massa, but they had to. He has more than enough chances to pull his socks up, more than most drivers would get. I see why, he is a lovable guy, iam no Massa fan but iam always during a gp, cheering for him at some point, he just has the certain aura about him. He will be missed if he doesn't land a seat, "baby senna" is what I used to call him, looks like a baby and WAS fast, back in the day. Back in the day meaning, anytime at Ferrari, pre Hungary 2009.

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He was the WDC points leader after the third race of 2010. He was still fast after Hungary 2009, and is still fast now. He's just not able to regularly match Alonso, and when he does, it seems to almost always be before the WDC is decided (such that he can't really interfere. Recall that had Ferrari moved Massa out of the way in one race in 2012 in which Massa out-scored Alonso, Alonso would have been the 2012 champion. Seriously). He lost the team's number one backing when a better driver came along to lead them, and he lost his confidence because of it.

The speed, though? The speed's still there.

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He was the WDC points leader after the third race of 2010. He was still fast after Hungary 2009, and is still fast now. He's just not able to regularly match Alonso, and when he does, it seems to almost always be before the WDC is decided (such that he can't really interfere. Recall that had Ferrari moved Massa out of the way in one race in 2012 in which Massa out-scored Alonso, Alonso would have been the 2012 champion. Seriously). He lost the team's number one backing when a better driver came along to lead them, and he lost his confidence because of it.

The speed, though? The speed's still there.

I agree, he hasn't lost speed. He shows flashes of what he's capable of. He made a full recovery from that bang on the head quite quickly, why would it slow him down? If it was confidence then he wouldn't have even got back in the car after the accident

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Good news! So, Maldonado to Lotus, Hulk back to Force India, and Di Resta looking for employment??

Hope not. Let's hope Hulk to Lotus, Maldonado to Sauber.

Massa's saying all the right things today but "it's a team that can fight for championships" is a bit optimistic lol

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Great news! Williams have been lacking this season in experience & by signing a still fresh Massa, I reckon Williams' progress will steadily increase. Probably not to 90's levels but as long as it earns the team more than the 1 lousy point they've picked up this season! Then again that 1 point can multiply in the final 2 races :P

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He is following In Rubens steps, hope it doesn't end up the same way.

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