Massa answered my last question on him

[kalasend]

I like Massa. He has been fast. But his two wins last year was based on a good qualify position(were they both from the pole?) and non-surprising race starts. The biggest question in my mind was then could he manage a more complicated, struggling race. I got the answer now. It is very disappointing. I think Massa officially lost claim to be a top tier driver now. Just being fast in non-disruptive qualifying sessions does not do much.

[race aficionado]

Man!
Some of you are taking it tooo hard on Massa.

So he messed up trying to pass a racer that was not going to allow that to happen - he lost the battle not the war - or whatever!

Can you imagine the radio communication blaring into his ears as he tried to pass the inspired Hamilton?

It went something like this:
"Pass him man! pass him now! What are you waiting for! Pass him now!
oH for goodness sake, don't be a wimp! pass him #@!*!!!"

That and the first corner start were the most exciting part of the race.

This thread has a big chance of being blended with another Massa one for sure . . . .

mokin:

[Dazz9908]

Massa is quick,and lightening fast but by no means is he a racer, He had a go but was made to look like an Amateur by an F1 Rookie.
He'll win races but just proven himself to be no world champion material.

[RJL25]

drove like an idiot in malaysia. Just when phillipe seems to be getting it together as a serious championship contender he puts in a performance like that.

race aficionado - your saying so what he messed up this one manouver, fair enough, but this isnt the first time! His career has been littered with stupid driving errors like this and it really isnt good enough. When was the last time you saw alonso or raikonen make similar mistakes?

[Storm]

I am not even a fan of Massa...but I think like race afi said you are being a bit too hard on him...he is still maturing (hopefully) and he will become as consistent as Kimi is over time. He has some natural talent but he needs to learn more racecraft. of course having said that he can only dream of being as consistently fast as Alonso!

And I think he won't be WDC unless Ferrari are really much faster than McLaren and Kimi is sleeping in his cockpit :

RJL25...i's Felipe

[Mark]

You can tell that Massa has been desperate to try and prove a point that he's at least as good as Kimi if not better, unfortunately he's just embarassed himself in the process.

[ArrowsFA1]

...I think like race afi said you are being a bit too hard on him...he is still maturing (hopefully) and he will become as consistent as Kimi is over time.

Perhaps the criticism of Massa is a little harsh but we are talking about a driver with 72 races behind him. The fact that he's still making errors he was making as a rookie suggests he is not maturing as a driver.

[ioan]

You can tell that Massa has been desperate to try and prove a point that he's at least as good as Kimi if not better, unfortunately he's just embarassed himself in the process.

All he was trying to do was not to let Alonso run away while Hamilton was holding them up. He was not trying to prove anything to Kimi or whoever cause he knew that Kimi was on reduced revs.

As for being made to look bad by a rookie, that's bullsh!t. And Hamilton saying he pushed Felipe to make an error is the most arrogant thing a rookie said, ever.
Felipe made the error whatever Hamilton was going to do, when you race you won't brake accordingly to your opponent but according to the last point from where you can reduce your speed enough to make the corner.
Drivers outbrake themselves even when the don't try to pass someone.

If Hamilton would have been the one trying to pass Felipe and as a consequence Massa would have done the mistake than I would have accorded Hamilton that he pushed him to make a mistake, but in this case it's just a blown up ego.

[Ranger]

All he was trying to do was not to let Alonso run away while Hamilton was holding them up. He was not trying to prove anything to Kimi or whoever cause he knew that Kimi was on reduced revs.

As for being made to look bad by a rookie, that's bullsh!t. And Hamilton saying he pushed Felipe to make an error is the most arrogant thing a rookie said, ever.
Felipe made the error whatever Hamilton was going to do, when you race you won't brake accordingly to your opponent but according to the last point from where you can reduce your speed enough to make the corner.
Drivers outbrake themselves even when the don't try to pass someone.

If Hamilton would have been the one trying to pass Felipe and as a consequence Massa would have done the mistake than I would have accorded Hamilton that he pushed him to make a mistake, but in this case it's just a blown up ego.

But this isn't about Hamilton. For whatever reason, Massa just drove dumb, and whilst his passing attempts made for good TV, it really can't be justified when you go back down the field and stay there, costing yourself and the team.

Good on him for trying, but he needs to do it a lot better next time.

[ioan]

Good on him for trying, but he needs to do it a lot better next time.

Well I was pretty pi!ssed of he didn't really try in Oz, and I might say I was happy he tried in Sepang.
I can remember lots of worse moves from other very good drivers along the history of F1, at least Felipe didn't take anyone of when he made his mistake.