Clicky

Jump to content

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

la force supreme des mclaren

Massa: We're Number 1!

Recommended Posts

Massa: Ferrari have the advantage

A bullish Felipe Massa is convinced Ferrari are a step ahead of their rivals as the final major test before the Australian Grand Prix draws to a close.

Ferrari have dominated this week's running at Sakhir, with both their single lap pace and long run form, and Massa is confident about his Maranello team's preparations for the 2007 campaign.

When asked if he felt that Ferrari were ahead of McLaren and BMW-Sauber, he said: "For sure. It's difficult to speak for them but at the moment it looks like we are quite strong with a good package. Hopefully it will stay like this.

"We've made a big step forward in terms of set up work and aerodynamics. I think if you compare the first day in Bahrain and the end of the second week we've done a very good job and improved the car a lot - especially with the new aerodynamic package, which we understand how to work better on the tyres.

"I have to say I'm really happy and optimistic. I'm ready for the first race."

Massa believes that the biggest challenge to himself and Kimi Raikkonen will come from McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

"He won the last two championships and he is a very good driver who did a good performance in the last two years," he explained. "So he will be looked at by everybody.

"At Ferrari, we have two strong drivers who will be fighting at the front. But maybe there are other surprises."

Speaking about how he feels he will perform in 2007, Massa said he was optimistic about building on the form that helped him finish third in the drivers' championship last season.

"I expect to make another step forward compared to last year - especially in the second part of last year, which was a great part of the championship for me," he said.

"I'm really enthusiastic and trying to put everything together to be quick and enthusiastic, to be lucky and to have a great team working with me as well. I'm trying to put everything together to be successful."

But Massa has drawn short of making any firm predictions about whether he will be able to win the world championship.

"I'm not the kind of guy who likes to say, 'Yeah I'm gonna win.' I'm not like that. I'm going to keep working hard like I was always doing.

"In the end, winning the championship doesn't just mean being quick and being strong, you need to put everything together - especially luck, consistency, and speed. I'm going to try everything together and if I win I will be the happiest guy in the world."

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

"In the end, winning the championship doesn't just mean being quick and being strong, you need to put everything together - especially luck, consistency, and speed.

Which Massa doesnt have!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

fair comments from massa. maybe i will start to like him. will be interesting to see his character come out if he does become 1 of the championship contenders

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
fair comments from massa. maybe i will start to like him. will be interesting to see his character come out if he does become 1 of the championship contenders

Bah, Fisi or Kova will be the WDC. I hope the other teams have an excuse ready for that when it happens. If they don't, then Alonso will. And if NEITHER Renault or Alonso win, then my vote goes for Hamilton, then Liuzzi, then the remaining non-ferrari drivers, then Kimi, then Juan Pablo Montoya, then all the characters from Wacky Races. If none of them can win, I might accept that Massa can become a WDC.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Massa believes that the biggest challenge to himself and Kimi Raikkonen will come from McLaren's Fernando Alonso.

"He won the last two championships and he is a very good driver who did a good performance in the last two years," he explained. "So he will be looked at by everybody.

Funny to pin point a driver instead of a team to be battling against. If Massa is going to be spearheading Ferrari's title hopes he'd need alot more then weak mind games (saying everybody will be looking at Alonso). Alonso's already shown such games, Schumacher being the best at it, have no effect.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Ok, he's gone from saying BMW are looking best, to McLaren to Ferrari?

Whose next?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

And then Super best friends*.

Hmmmmm maybe not, I'll stop being silly now ok :D

* I love that term when we are talking SAF1, can anyone remember who coined the phrase???? Just have to sort out to whom I send the royalties to, that's all.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Pfft, it'll be Fisi soon.

---

Anyway, I read something similar on the ITV website it was rather warm infact.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Funny to pin point a driver instead of a team to be battling against. If Massa is going to be spearheading Ferrari's title hopes he'd need alot more then weak mind games (saying everybody will be looking at Alonso). Alonso's already shown such games, Schumacher being the best at it, have no effect.

i think its a compliment to alonso more than anything else, not mind games

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Massa is fair in his assessment. I don't think he sounds c#cky. Just plain confident & a bit prudent(he mentioned the luck factor too). He may very well win the WDC.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Now all you Massa dissers:-

Quotes from Alonso:-

World champion Fernando Alonso has admitted that Ferrari will travel to the Australian grand prix as favourite.

The 25-year-old told Spanish television 'Telecinco' that he might have to wait until at least mid-season until his McLaren single seater is able to compete with its Maranello based rival.

"There were some tests at which they did not look so great," Spaniard Alonso said, after Ferrari's Felipe Massa dominated the final session of the pre-season this week in Bahrain.

Referring to Ferrari, he added: "Now their experience with Bridgestone has put them ahead of us.

"The reality is that they are very strong and in the first half of the season they will have the advantage.

"We are going to have to be defensive in the first races and then attack when we know that we can recover what we have lost," Alonso said.

While Ferrari has enjoyed an uninterrupted relationship with Bridgestone, departed supplier Michelin's former teams including McLaren have had to switch ahead of season '07.

Alonso agreed: "We are still learning about these tyres.

"Everybody wants to be the best at the first race, but this car is what we have and it is a good basis."

The reigning back to back title winner insisted that Felipe Massa is likely to be the "big favourite" for Australia, despite early expectations that Kimi R

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Put Kimi in that car on race weekend and we will all be reminded just how ordinary Massa is. Kimi will not guide and comfort Massa as Michael did, so Massa will begin to overdrive his car as the pressure mounts on him and then fall back on his erratic ways. Massa isn't Kimi's challenger; Alonso is.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Kimi will not guide and comfort Massa as Michael did, so Massa will begin to overdrive his car as the pressure mounts on him and then fall back on his erratic ways. Massa isn't Kimi's challenger; Alonso is.

my thoughts exactly....

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Kimi will be there he is still finding his feet but I am happy for Massa and he will be a factor the season. :naughty:

WHY DONT WE HEAR ENYTING FROM KIMI WE ONLY HEAR FROM MASSA AND IF FERRARI TALK THEY TALK MASSA NOT KIMI WHY ? :eusa_think: IS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON ?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Massa is probably better at answering testing-related questions. All you would get from Kimi would be 'Ineedtohaveash!t' or 'Thecarfeelsgoodsowewillsee'. Not exactly headline quotes there....

I would caution everyone against holding Massa up on an unrealistic pedestal during testing. Kimi often doesn't show his true speed in testing. Wait for Oz, then, as Kimi says, 'wewillsee'.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
Massa is probably better at answering testing-related questions. All you would get from Kimi would be 'Ineedtohaveash!t' or 'Thecarfeelsgoodsowewillsee'. Not exactly headline quotes there....

I would caution everyone against holding Massa up on an unrealistic pedestal during testing. Kimi often doesn't show his true speed in testing. Wait for Oz, then, as Kimi says, 'wewillsee'.

Indeed, testing is just that.

On a side note rumour has it that the brass at Ferrari are teaching Kimi Italian, that way nobody will understand him...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Weird Ferrari get their drivers to speak italian, im sure it would be easier to teach the italians to speak english...after all every european i meet from a country without english as their first language still gets taught it in school.

Must be part of the whole Ferrari ego thing.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...