Massa, champ, chump or chimp!

[tibiquera]

I know there's quite a lot of people who don't like him, but for someone to match the pace and at times go faster than Schumacher and Raikkonen, he definitely has a lot of talent.

My explanation to his form probably has to do with the fact he lost the psychological war against Alonso. I remember his first year after the accident he was doing reasonably good against Alonso, but after the Germany race it seemed his performance that year dropped quite a lot. And even today it doesn't look like he fits in Ferrari the way he did before.

During his best, he was a very quick and aggressive driver. Remember his fight with Kubica in Fuji? I feel like that thirst he had is gone. He lost that edge that made him an exciting driver to watch. There's no question Alonso is a phenomenal driver, but I feel there's some politics going on too. I really hope he does not renew with Ferrari, for his own good, and finds himself a spot in another team, even a midfield team. It's actually a bit of a dream of mine that he goes to Lotus and re-enacts the partnership with Kimi.

 

[corporatesteve]

I believe a lot has to do with the engineering and what information gets passed between the 2 armies inside SF

 

[NicoLoeb]

It has to be said that Alonso's insistence on secrecy from team mates must be a bitter pill for someone recovering from a pretty horrific accident. Its not exactly what you call supportive. Perhaps Massa has missed the boat somewhat with a move though. The lottery of 2012 regs and development would have been an ideal opportunity to measure himself against a new yardstick.

 

[Clark]

I've always been a huge fan of Massa and always will be. But now he seems to have zero confidence in everything. I don't think he'd fully recovered from the accident and came back too early. The small gap behind Alonso there was at the time and his vulnerability at that time just means he's been pummelled into submission

 

[Alex.]

Personally I think Alonso flatters pretty much any car he drives.

 

[Bye Ya]

The small gap behind Alonso there was at the time and his vulnerability at that time just means he's been pummelled into submission

No, too many incidents. This isn't just poor racing form by submission, he's DNF'ing all the time. Alonso is world class, Massa is nowhere near him.

 

[Clark]

I meant when he first came back, in 2010.

 

[NicoLoeb]

The next logical question is what will Alonso push for? I think he's more than happy to have his team mate stuck in the backmarkers if not the gravel. I don't think we'll see him push for new blood for quite a while.

 

[Furinkazen]

Massa is clearly not the same driver since his Hungaroring crash. It's a pity but I think he's past his prime now. Perez is probably going to Ferrari to replace him I think next season - maybe even a swap with Sauber?

If Ferrari made an offer for next season and said to Sauber "Have Felipe, we take Perez, and we continue to give you Ferrari engines", Sauber with their already limited budget and struggle for sponsors would be stupid to say no.

 

[BlacqueJacques]

He has not competed the same since being hit in the head/helmet in my opinion

 

[RX-7_FD3S]

His motivation must be pretty low, I mean he knows that even if he's ahead of Alonso on a GP, Ferrari will most likely ask him to fall behind (like it happen already), so yeah, how can you be really motivate that way ?
What I mean is that you'll loose motivation a bit, then you fall back because you're not giving 120%. Then you loose a bit more motivation because you can't even beat your codriver in qualification. And then you're 1 sec behind not caring a lot anymore and we can all see what happen. I dont say it's THE explanation but it could be. I dont really feel like Massa care anymore but honestly in my part of the world we rarely see an interview of Massa so I can't really tell.

 

[NicoLoeb]

I don't really understand why he returned to F1 after the accident. He didn't need the money or the fame, perhaps he wanted to prove himself against Alonso? Either way its a sad demise for any driver regardless of whether liked or not.

 

[Radracing]

I think Massa is still a good driver. He just seems to be emotionally beat and past his prime. He seems not to be as hungry to be the best. Maybe because of his coming close to a life and death situation and having his priorities changed. But being this is formula one where only the best is wanted he has to dig deep to find that hunger to start winning again or else he will need to find something else to do and not necessarily in F1 if he doesn't want to be in a midfield team. Besides he has accomplished a lot and made enough money to be comfortable for the rest of his life. So he should consider himself lucky and feel better about himself and forget about all the haters that keep criticizing him. If he can do that he could probably focus more and do better. Its a tough business, especially with a field with so many world champions its even going to be tougher this season.