The Rise of Felipe Massa

[Hawkmoon]

Thats what I thought - He is just coming into prime time so we will see how he does.. There is a lot more to winning a championship than just raw speed.
Alonso was a exception to the rule I think.

He is still young. 2007 will be his sixth year in F1, though only his fifth in a racing capacity.

What surprises me is the surge in support for him since the end of the season. I wonder if his win in Brazil is still fresh in people's minds and is colouring some perceptions of him?

I don't actually think he can beat Raikkonen consistently enough over the course of an entire season. I think he will beat him on occasion, just as he did Schumcaher but in equal machinery I think the Finn will prove to be too quick.

[Roamy]

well I was thinking that too until JV said otherwise. So respecting Jv I will hold judgement for a few races.

[Mifune]

i never doubted he had talent, and we was at least fun to watch.
i think he was heavily criticised early in his career by members of the forum who are somewhat adverse to excitement, for some reason he upset their delicate armchair-expert sensibilities.(F1 is all about strategy dont you know)
dunno if he`s got what it takes to go all the way though.

[Donney]

I won't say anithing till the season starts, I think he is shown he is a very good second driver, but we don't how he will cope with the pressure of having to deliver consistently.

[jens]

Massa is a good example of a driver, who is underrated in a mediocre team and suddenly people think someone has become a better driver after getting a better car! Well yes, he has learned a lot at Ferrari, but his raw speed has always been good, I suspect that he lacked of physical strength and endurance in his early years in F1 that prevented him to shine even more. But... when in 2002 Peter Sauber said that Massa is as talented as Räikkönen, then he was laughed at. And still in 2005 no-one was talking about him. I remember that I made a thread about Felipe in the summer of 2005 in one forum and asked for people's thoughts about him and the answers were mainly, that
- oh he is nothing special;
- just a usual mid-packed driver for the whole career;
- he'll be lucky to get a seat in a top team one day;
- maybe he even won't have a drive next year in F1 (because Heidfeld was about to take his Sauber-BMW seat);
- etc, etc.

Therefore - do not tend to underrate drivers just because they don't have a top car! As many consider Massa's performance in 2006 as a positive surprise, then every season there are so-called surprises, which usually happen due to the fact that some guy at last gets a competitive car and then many react so that "Oh I even couldn't imagine that he can be that good!" Less than a month to go - we just have to wait and see, who is gonna be a 'surprise' this season. Even Felipe might be among "surprises" if he can at least match Kimi, which would be unexpected to many.

But all in all, I haven't recently put much emphasis on Kimi vs Felipe possible duel. Maybe I don't care that much and think that will the better one win!

[leopard]

After driving the first quarter last year i oftently saw him alternately right before or after Michael (unless wet races), we can make a prognosis if you think Kimi is equal to Michael, Massa could be a danger team mate for Kimi.

This two guys have similar agresiveness on the track, or Massa could be smoother a bit? He takes adventage from this being his second year driving for Ferrari, while Kimi has a huge experience driving another good car despite some people said it has poor reliability.

Can't wait until the real race commenced and we'll see which Ferrari boy will compete for the title, if anything goes naturally i bet Alonso and Massa the first group, and Buton/Kimi behind them.

[sezix]

He joined Formula 1 too early. JV knows this and no praises him and has quite some respect for him. Massa is my current favourite Formula 1 driver, will be very interesting to see him agains Kimi.
Brazil 2007 was quite something!

[wedge]

Massa is a good example of a driver, who is underrated in a mediocre team and suddenly people think someone has become a better driver after getting a better car! Well yes, he has learned a lot at Ferrari, but his raw speed has always been good, I suspect that he lacked of physical strength and endurance in his early years in F1 that prevented him to shine even more. But... when in 2002 Peter Sauber said that Massa is as talented as Räikkönen, then he was laughed at. And still in 2005 no-one was talking about him. I remember that I made a thread about Felipe in the summer of 2005 in one forum and asked for people's thoughts about him and the answers were mainly, that
- oh he is nothing special;
- just a usual mid-packed driver for the whole career;
- he'll be lucky to get a seat in a top team one day - maybe he even won't have a drive next year in F1 (because Heidfeld was about to take his Sauber-BMW seat);
- etc, etc.

I wouldn't say he was under-rated but rather a very immature driver.

No doubt the raw speed was there but the amount of time he succumbed to 'red-mist' and trashing the Sauber has been countless. Also the amount of times that I laughed whenever I saw Massa waving his fists in the air when the car infront was a few hundreds metres away looked almost pathetic.

The other surprising thing is that it has taken a good few years for Massa to mature. For sure, if Massa had a different management team, Massa would be in A1GP by now.

[Big Ben]

At first I was happy with Massa signing for Ferrari. I said to myself: "good...! a ferrari driven by a moron is always a good news for me" I have to say that in the meantime I have changed my mind. I saw him handling Schu pretty well when he was allowed...

[DimitraF1]

ferrari spend so much money to get raikkonen...they will never let massa beat kimi , and if massa is faster they will use their usual tricks..ferrari rolls