Felipe Massa: a class act
Parallel to Lewis Hamilton’s moment of joy was utter despair for title runner-up Felipe Massa.
Massa crossed the line at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix thinking he had won the world championship. The home crowd and his Ferrari team thought so too – but when Hamilton came home in fifth place the smiles vanished.
Massa drove a faultless race in Brazil. He started from pole position, he set fastest lap, and he won the race. And for all the talk of his weaknesses in wet weather he kept his head during the showers at the start and end of the race.
He couldn’t have done any more, and he was powerless to prevent Hamilton beating him to the championship by a single point.
I won’t pretend for a moment that I am anything other than relieved that the title contenders didn’t end the race tied on points, as it looked like they were going to as the last lap began. That would have given Massa the title – with six wins to Hamilton’s five – and a hard-earned championship would have been forever tainted by the disgrace of the Spa penalty. As far as I’m concerned, the sport dodged an undesirable and disreputable outcome, just as it did in 1982.
But I felt bitterly sorry for Massa at the end. Since Bahrain this year he has forced his critics to re-evaluate their opinions of him with every passing race. He comes across as a genuine and warm individual – and his emotions are invariably writ large across his face.
He was the model of graciousness in defeat. Afterwards he said:
We need to congratulate Lewis as he did a great championship, he scored more points than us so he deserves to be champion. I know how to lose, I know how to win and it is another day of my life where I will learn a lot.
Hopefully we come back here with the title [next year], but it is part of our experience and part of our life.
And I don’t buy all this ‘that was Massa’s only shot at the title’ stuff either. He’ll win more races in the future. And people like me will look a lot less surprised when he does.
Terry Fabulous said on 3rd November 2008, 3:40
Hear hear Keith. Well Said!
Owen said on 3rd November 2008, 4:14
I’ll second that emotion. I didn’t like Massa’s comments after Fuji but he really stood out in the press conference today. A great lesson for all (some of his fans included) on how to react in defeat.
Spen said on 3rd November 2008, 4:31
I agree totally.
I always said he was so lucky to be at Ferrari, being Jean Todt’s manager son’s client, and happy to play no.2 to Schumacher.
But this year he’s a different person, and very fast.
He just needs to learn to have patience when he doesn’t start from pole, and if her can do that, he’ll catch Hamilton.
yorricksfriend said on 3rd November 2008, 4:39
Unfortunately we didn’t get to see the press conference on the Australian telecast
Dan M said on 3rd November 2008, 4:40
“That would have given Massa the title – with six wins to Hamilton’s five – and a hard-earned championship would have been forever tainted by the disgrace of the Spa penalty.”
I would hate to see his title be tainted, he can not be blamed for the penalties on Hamilton even if he did benefit from them.
Massa had two heart breaking moments where wins were taken from him at no fault of his own (granted, reliability it a huge part of championships) . The same can be said for Hamilton on only one occasion and even on that day he managed to pick up a couple very important points.
Haytham Hawamdeh said on 3rd November 2008, 4:44
he didnt find anything else to say
he deserve the losing
and the best wining all the time
AJ said on 3rd November 2008, 5:32
I think he was anything but disappointed not because he lost the world championship but the way he lost. less than few kilometers to go he was the world champion and 18 seconds later he wasn’t.
He knew it would be hard to win the championship here with the given point difference and we would surely have seen a happier massa if the race had finished in dry and hamilton was 5th.
Jason said on 3rd November 2008, 6:18
I completely agree that Massa was the epitomy of a sportsman here. I dont think I could have reacted as well as he did. And like you mentioned in the live blog Keith, after the Spa incident, I never thought I could feel sorry for Massa if he didnt win the championship. It really was something today. Great race, great final lap and final corner. FIA needs to see that even without their meddling, F1 is a very exciting sport.
sportingloser said on 3rd November 2008, 7:22
SPORTING LSOER MY ASS! He was implying all week long he was winning the title clean if he clinched it.
Wat the hell is he thinking? Did he forget how his points tally got a few automatic top-ups from FIA and Mosley thru zero efforts of his own?
Reagan said on 3rd November 2008, 8:38
Hamilton didn’t win the race…. he didn’t drive to win the race. He got this year’s championship by a fluke. Just admire vettel for his perfect driving. Vettel is the perfect rain driver. Like other British drivers, this is the first and the last title for Hamilton. Wait and watch how vettel erases his records. Massa was just perfect and the Mclarens were struggling to match the lap times of the Ferrari’s.
DG said on 3rd November 2008, 8:48
I cannot get over the reaction of the team and the fans to the incredible last minute reversal of fortune. After Ted Kravitz’s little flag stunt, I was expecting a lynch mob around the podium.
Massa, the teams and the fans should be happy that he won the race in such difficult conditions, although all he had to do was keep it on the track. He was only threatened a little by Vettel, and not at all by Alonso or Kimi, so to me it was relatively easy, as compared to the battles Lewis was having just to keep in 5th place.
My admiration for Massa has grown this year, as he has shown he can drive a mature and courageous race if necessary. But to win the Championship next year he has to be more consistant, not get rattled by misfortune and just drive better.
Rachel said on 3rd November 2008, 8:52
Both Massa and Hamilton did all that was asked of them. Despite the reliability problems at Ferrari earlier on and the FIA’s attempts to level the playing field by flirting with the rules, the outcome was spectacular. I think we’ll see a lot more from both drivers in the future – let’s hope Renault and BMW get into this title race as well next year; while a two-horse race is still exciting, four, five or even six contenders would be something else indeed.
Reagan said on 3rd November 2008, 9:07
Hamilton didn’t do what he was supposed to do, but Massa did what he was supposed to do. As always told about Hamilton’s driving, he will choke and goof up things in the last minute, and he did it. Is he a world champion material? NO. Vettel overtook him bravely…Bravo Vettel. A real champion is someone who win the real battle and not gaining an advantage of someone who is not in the battle (Gock). Hamilton always said he is the best rain driver, why didnt he prove it in Brazil. Vettel is the best and even Massa is getting faster than anyone after every race. As i said this is the first and the last title for hamilton
Mystic Pizza said on 3rd November 2008, 9:15
I think the Brazilian crowd could take a couple of lessons from their No 1 driver in sporting conduct. I did feel incredibly sorry for Massa at the end but think the experience can only make him stronger. Looking forward to see what he can do next year.
Lustigson said on 3rd November 2008, 9:18
It seems like some will go on forever on this subject, but a title for Massa would be as much (or as little) tainted as Hamilton’s is right now. I rate both drivers, but both men and their teams have made an alarming amount of mistakes, this season.
To reply to your remarks, here and in other posts, on the Spa penalty: I find that nonsense. Had Hamilton lost the title, it would not have been that penalty, but his and his team’s mistakes, and bad luck:
(a) Crash into Alonso’s car in Bahrain
(b) Crash into Räikkönen’s car in the pit lane in Canada
(c) Drive-through penalty because of gaining an unfair advantage while overtaking Vettel in France
(d) Puncture in Hungary
(e) Over-confident manoeuvre on Räikkönen in Japan, sliding off the track 2 corners later, and the subsequent drive-through penalty
(f) Many small mistakes in the last laps in Brazil, letting Vettel slip by, and taking the title only in the dying minutes, after what I think was a rather lucky, overtaking manoeuvre onTimo Glock
In fact, hadn’t Hamilton been so lucky in Monaco, he and McLaren would have screwed up there, too.
Don’t get me wrong, Massa has done stupid things, too, this season, but saying he’d deserve the title less than Hamilton, is like saying Räikkönen would have deserved the 2003 or 2005 WDCs less, because of McLaren’s and Mercedes’ erors during those respective season.