Massa answered my last question on him

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Originally Posted by ioan

All he was trying to do was not to let Alonso run away...

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Agreed. That was Felipe's concern. He'd seen his pole position advantage be reduced to third after being mugged by both McLarens at the first turns so was anxious to make up places.

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Originally Posted by ioan

He was not trying to prove anything to Kimi or whoever cause he knew that Kimi was on reduced revs.

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After Melbourne he may not have needed to prove anything but I'd guess he wanted to at least beat Kimi to reduce the points difference.

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Originally Posted by ioan

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.

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It's not arrogance to state the facts, and that's all Hamilton did: "I was able to trick him into out-braking himself and get my car stopped and it was very fortunate that I was able to cut across and get back in front of him." What's so difficult about seeing the move for what it was - a superbly planned and executed one. LH opened the door just late enough to invite Massa through, but at the same time prepared to cut back under the Ferrari and take back the corner. Hamilton was in control of the situation, not Massa.

I think Massa has shown his potential. He's obviously more on top of the car than Kimi. He has been the pace setter in the team all through winter testing, and was looking the stronger of the two in Oz before his car let him down. And same again in Malaysia, where he was the pace setter, and probably had a slight edge on Kimi in the race in terms of speed too. Just a shame his race-craft let him down. Saying that Kimi has said his pace was compromised due to the worry over his engine. Quite telling that Kimi never even got close enough to attempt a move.

To say Massa hasn't matured since his early f1 days shows how fickle people are these days. Massa, in the last year and a half is by far the most improved driver in F1. Ok, he made a mistake, but he's still a serious contender for race wins this season, especially when he has the best car on the grid, and his team-mate still seems to be settling in.

I think people are being harsh on him definately. I think a good race in Bahrain, and people will be raving about him again. What I've found most surprising is how Massa has generally been the quicker of the two (Massa and Kimi). Kimi definately needs to up his game if he wants to be regarded the quickest in F1. I don't think many people would argue against the fact that Alonso is currently the greatest driver on the grid. The impact Hamilton has made, has in a way relieved some pressure from Alonso, and taken away what an awesome job he's done so far. I wouldn't classify myself as an Alonso fan, far from it, but I can't help but admire the guy! In a way he's like Schumacher, without the unsportmanship and lying traits.

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Originally Posted by 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.

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Embarrased himself :?: Kimi was supposed to come to Ferrari and blow him away. He outpaced Kimi during the testing season and has out qualified him in the last race. Poor luck in OZ and a frustratingly slow Hammy that caused his off does not make for an embarrassing situation.

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Originally Posted by 555-04Q2

Embarrased himself :?: Kimi was supposed to come to Ferrari and blow him away. He outpaced Kimi during the testing season and has out qualified him in the last race. Poor luck in OZ and a frustratingly slow Hammy that caused his off does not make for an embarrassing situation.

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Embarrassing because it was such a simple mistake which lost him a handful of points.

Pace during the testing season and out-qualifying Kimi when he is conserving his engine is barely valuable or worthwhile in the long run - it means **** all if the results aren't there, which, thus far, they aren't.

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Originally Posted by raphael123

To say Massa hasn't matured since his early f1 days shows how fickle people are these days.

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I've always thought Massa is overrated so my criticism of him in this instance is consistent with my view. He has improved as a driver, but so he should have. Drivers should always be looking to improve in every possible area and Massa certainly would not deserve his place in F1 if he hadn't improved, so giving him credit for that is not really saying much.

Well, I believe that Massa has a top-class raw speed and has speed to match anyone's pace, but he just somehow hasn't found the right balance how to act in battles. After Australia he was criticized for being too passive and not overtaking cars soon enough. On the contrary in Malaysia he was too aggressive. Over- or underaggressive...

He has to sit down and think over his behaviour on racing tracks. He has potential and it's a real shame that he is wasting his potential with such manouvers. If this continues, Felipe will start reminding me Montoya - a good raw speed, but a lot of errors, which become faithful for title hopes.

Massa has always been overrated. He was Ferrari's protege from the beginning, and even when he was testing that Ferrari (was that 2002) most of us talked of him as a hot-headed car-wrecking racer. Personally, I never uderstoof why JT rates him so high.

One thing for sure: you can safely take Hamilton off the rookie list.
This is especially important to Massa, who IMO, made his mistakes because he thought it would be easy to overtake Hamilton and his focus at that moment was wrongly placed at Alonso

Just read on PitPass that Massa admits he made the "mistake" which was more of a calculated risk than a mistake. Where I think he blew his chance was right at the beginning of the race - 1. Not cutting FA off at the start (MS-style) and then 2. Not slotting in between FA and LH at the first turn.

I do have to admit that he didn't lose his composure after going off and pulled back into 5th in a conservative drive rather than try another risky move and lose even more positions. So he showed some immaturity and some maturity in the same race.

Yeah, Felipe said that he desperately needed to get past Hamilton, because he was going to pit earlier than the Brit. He wanted to take a risk to fight for win instead of settling for 3rd place.

As for Bahrain, then I suppose Massa has again good chances of taking pole position, but it would be interesting to see, how will he drive in the race and whether he acts somehow differently than in Malaysia (at the race start and in battles - if there are going to be any).