Massa expects Pirellis to suit him better

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Felipe Massa expects Pirelli tyres suit his driving style better than the 2010 Bridgestones did.

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Felipe Massa interview 13/1/2011 (YouTube)

F1 Fanatic on Twitter

“If all goes according to plan I’ll be doing an interview with a multiple F1 world champion next week. Stay tuned for more details…”

Via the F1 Fanatic Twitter app

Cockpit test for Alonso (Ferrari)

“The Spanish driver was in Maranello this afternoon to try the seat for the new car, arriving shortly after three in the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Car Assembly area. […] The assembly is going to plan and next Monday it will be Felipe Massa’s turn to come to the factory for his seat fitting.”

Driver stewards ‘made F1 more fair’ (Autosport)

Tom Kristensen: “With the other drivers who were there, it put in the knowledge and no [F1] driver could cheat about what was going on. It made things fair and it made things better for the decision makers.”

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Comment of the day

Stewart shares his memory of watching Jack Brabham race:

Jack Brabham has been a hero of mine since I was a kid when he was winning for Cooper. The first GP I attended was at Brands in 1966 – Jack won in his own car – brilliant! I was at Brands again four years later when, on the last lap Jack, coming into Clearways where I was spectating, ran out of fuel and was passed by Jochen Rindt – heartbreaking! It was my birthday too!

From the forum

Are you going to any F1 pre-season tests?

Champion of Champions

The last part of round one of Champion of Champions will be on the site later today. If you’ve not voted on any of the earlier parts you can find them all here:

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On this day in F1

McLaren launched the MP4-24 on this day two years ago.

It started the 2009 season well off the pace but by the end of the year it was quick enough for Lewis Hamilton to win in Hungary and Singapore.

Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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70 comments on “Massa expects Pirellis to suit him better”

  1. “If all goes according to plan I’ll be doing an interview with a multiple F1 world champion next week.”

    Keith that’s amazing, I await and hope with anticipation!

    I really hope Massa performs much better next year. I think everyone’s got some sort of soft spot for the guy.

    1. Hmmm. Keith’s interviewed Sir Jackie Stewart fairly recently, who’s the only living British multi-champion, and I think we can safely assume it’s not Piquet, so that leaves a pretty short list of Alonso, Schumacher, Häkkinen, Fittipaldi, Lauda, Brabham, or Prost. I really have no idea, but I’m kind of hoping it’s one of the 2 current drivers. Unless of course it’s not a driver… maybe Adrian Newey? I’d imagine he’s probably fairly busy at the moment though.

      1. Hmm .. Alonso is kind of unlikely, Schumacher and Hakkinen might have to do PR work vor Mercedes, so I think there are chances, Lauda loves to talk all day. Fittipaldi once was at Lotus, maybe they gave him a ton of cash to say he is in favour of one of the Lotuses and Brabham, well, unless he claims he wants to return to F1 I kind of doubt it (which means I doubt it). Looking forward to it whoever it will be!

    2. Couldn’t have put it better myself Electrolite. I think Massa will bounce back this year.

  2. I’m sorry Felipe, Alonso just has that raw pace that you can’t match. Sure you will most likely be closer to him this year but still, you won’t beat him.

    1. You’re probably right, but then nobody expected him to beat Raikkonen and Schumacher, and he did (the latter only on occasion, admittedly). On his day he is as fast as anyone.

      2011 is make or break for him. If he fails this year, then so does his career

      1. 2011 is make or break for him. If he fails this year, then so does his career

        That’s probably true.

        1. with the full ferrari garage behind him, hes back to midpack status. he’s garbage.

          1. Sorry but that evaluation was poor. Alonso is clearly better than Massa but that certainly doesn’t make him “garbage”.

        2. Indeed.

          Though having the confidence he starts on the same footing as Alonso is going to be crucial.

      2. 2011 is make or break for him. If he fails this year, then so does his career

        That is an outrageous comment to make. With 2011 having 5 previous champions in the lineup, I am expecting an even closer season then last (with Mercedes joining the front runners) and I do not think that if Alonso fails to win the Championship, that is it… Do you not remember that it took Schumacher 4 years from when he joined Ferrari to win his first championship. Don’t get me wrong, Alonso needs to perform however to say this is make or break is slightly OTT, especially when he is only 29!!

        1. That is an outrageous comment to make. With 2011 having 5 previous champions in the lineup, I am expecting an even closer season then last (with Mercedes joining the front runners) and I do not think that if Alonso fails to win the Championship, that is it… Do you not remember that it took Schumacher 4 years from when he joined Ferrari to win his first championship. Don’t get me wrong, Alonso needs to perform however to say this is make or break is slightly OTT, especially when he is only 29!!

          He’s talking about Felipe, not Alonso.

          1. Woops lol I ready the entry before referencing alonso and assumed it was him. Sorry!!!

    2. In 2010 at the start of the season he was good, remember he led the championship. He qualified and arrived second at his first race for months after his crash, then arrived third in Australia, before having the same problems as Alonso. Then again in Italy he was very good. And of course, Germany. After that race he didn’t push anymore because he knew it was useless, but he still had some nice performances last year.

  3. I think Massa will leave Ferrari this year, he isn’t getting anyfaster and with all the comment he makes about the 2010 tyre degredation he seems to forget that it had nothing to do with his qualifiying pace, in which he simply wasn’t fast enough. Massa can hardly say he think the Pirelli’s will treat him worse when he’s on the verge of losing his seat.

    1. Yes, it has everything to do with his qualifying pace – if you can’t get the tyres up to temperature quick enough, it severely damages your qualifying, particularly in Q3.

  4. The last part of round one of Champion of Champions will be on the site later today.

    Who are the last two? I know Jenson Button is one of them, but the other? Hamilton? That’s not going to be a fair match-up.

    1. Yep I think you’re right.

      1. I don’t know, I think the matching might be quite close in terms of votes. It’s not different to Raikkonen vs Vettel in my eyes.

        1. Yup, Button’ll blitz Hamilton! ;) TIC.

        2. Actually, RIISE, I think it’s going to be heavily biased in favour of Hamilton. A lot of people seem to think that Jenson Button just coasted to his World Championship after the Turkish Grand Prix. But that isn’t true at all – Brawn ran out of money and they had to make do with what they had. It didn’t help that their upgrade for Silverstone made the car worse. They were expecting to do well in high temperatures, so they didn’t think much of it when they didn’t do as well as expected, but it wasn’t until the Hungarian Grand Prix two races later that they found it was a problem. While all the other teams could easily upgrade their car through the season, Brawn had to battle for every point. After all, Jenson Button won the championship in the car he started the season in. So he didn’t coast at all – he just had to fight to hold on to whateve rpoints he could manage. Personally, I think that’s way more impressive than Hamilton pretty much being born into the best car on the grid two years running.

          1. Sadly far more people hate Button than Hamilton, so only one person is going to win that one.

          2. Well, I’m just glad Villeneuve is out. I wish Raikkonen and Alonso had gone down hard, but you can’t have everything in life.

          3. Personally, I think that’s way more impressive than Hamilton pretty much being born into the best car on the grid two years running.

            It’s amazing how many people love to use this against him. He was given the best/2nd best car, but what matters is how he used it. He finished 2nd as a rookie, ahead of Alonso, and won the championship in the second year. When given a poor car in 2009, he still made the most of it and took 4 poles and 2 wins against faster Red Bulls.

            Hamilton is as impressive as anyone.

          4. Hamilton is as impressive as anyone.

            On the current grid.

          5. PM, You’re hilarious!!!

            A great comment about why Button should beat Hamilton even though we all know that Hamilton will win (can you say ‘more fans’?).

            Then, right after that you post another comment that you

            wish Raikkonen and Alonso would go down hard

            Isn’t that similar fanboyism??

          6. It didn’t help that their upgrade for Silverstone made the car worse

            Clearly not so bad that his teammate could win a couple of races…

          7. 2008 season:
            1. Hamilton 5 wins
            2. Massa 6 wins

            2009 season:
            1. Button 6 wins
            2. Vettel 4 wins

            None of them got their championsship handed on a silver plate…and after 2010 I wouldn’t rule out a second championship for Button. After all, if he had not been taken out by Vettel in Spa and if he had won in Monza (we all saw that he came very close to it) he would have led the championship with five races to go…

          8. True, but even Barrichello was able to beat Button on several occasions, so it wasn’t just the car that was getting weaker.

          9. Really so how come Barrichello won two races after the Turkey GP. And how come Hamilton bet Button in equal machinery.
            The Reason Button won the title was because he had the best car with no real competition.
            Notice how when the Mclaren’s and Red Bull’s were better developed he was being constantly out-paced.

            I think you are failing to see past your JB bias.

          10. Regarding Barrichello beating Button, I give him more credit, because he won with a car that hadn’t been upgraded, whilst Button won only at the start of the season when Brawn were the best. Then Red Bull overcame Brawn and Jenson stood and watched, whilst Rubens still won with it.
            Also Barrichello didn’t win at the start of the season, but closely matched Button, but I think he might not have found a good setup, because he beat Button when their cars weren’t so good.

          11. PM. Its ridiculous to say that the Brawn car was uncompetitive in the latter half of the season. Just look at Barichello’s performances in the 2nd half of the season, he clearly outperformed Jenson. If it wasn’t for a little bit of bad luck, and bad strategic calls for Rubens, he would have definitely take the title race to Abu Dhabi.

            Jenson was back to his mediocre self halfway through the season, and I really fail to see how Rubens was putting the car on pole position and taking wins if the Brawn was struggling so much.

            I’m not a huge fan of Hamilton as well, but I respect his abilities, and I think that even comparing him to Jenson is a joke.

            I obviously voted for Hamilton

          12. @ Fixy- Barrichello didn’t closely match Button in the first half of the season, losing to his teammate in all but one of the first 10 races, leaving a ~30 point deficit to make up, which he obviously didn’t.

            @ Todfod – Barrichello took 1 pole before failing to show up on race day, and also lost the title with numerous Webber-esque starts.

          13. @davidA. Since the Turkish GP (10 races)

            Barichello – Qualified 6 times within the top 4, won 2 races, and had 3 podium finishes.

            Button – Qualified only once within the top 4, didn’t win any races, and finished twice on the podium.

            As far as Barichello not showing up on race day at Brazil.. I clearly remember him getting a puncture when he was still fighting for the race win.

            The point is not to show how good Barrichello was, but instead to show how mediocre Jenson was in the 2nd half of 2009

    2. Seriously, I”m voting for Button. Hamilton may be more of an eager talent, but Button was the better champion, and the better gentleman within the context.

      I will vote Button, whatever the stats say. He had a chance that he thought he’d had passed away, and he took it. He didn’t throw it away like Hamilton has a tendency to do by trying to pull off audacious overtaking manoeuvres that work on his brother on the XBox/PS3. He down to earth, plays a mature long game, and can pass when he has too.

      Nuff said :)

      1. True, but even Barrichello was able to beat Button on several occasions, so it wasn’t just the car that was getting weaker.

        Yes, but it was generally always Button that would be ahead on points come the end of the season.

        Barrichello beat Schumacher several times but he still got his ass handed too him.

        1. Barrichello beat Schumacher several times but he still got his ass handed too him.

          But Rubens never outqualifed Schumacher over the course of the season which was the case with Button. I mean the last world champion I can think of getting outqualified in his title year was Alain Prost in 1989 and he was against Senna, one of, if not the best qualifiers F1 has ever seen.

          1. Um. Vettel was out-qualified by Webber on a few occasions last year.

          2. I was talking about being outqualified generally, i.e. losing the qualifying duel over the course of a season. Every driver has been outqualified by their team mate every once in a while, heck, once Nelson Piquet outqualified Alonso,

    3. it can be closer than you think. let’s see.

  5. For those that have a spare hour and a half, heres some lazy Sunday viewing for you:

    http://vimeo.com/17632646

    1. Thanks for the link.

      1. We are probably going to read all these comments on Button/Hamilton again tomorrow.

    2. Here is another F1 movie on Vimeo. Yet to watch either but that will soon change :)

      http://vimeo.com/18592054

    3. This is brilliant, thanks a lot

    4. I saw that a couple of days ago. Great material.

  6. Surely Massa means he “hopes the Pirelli tyres will suit him better than the 2010 Bridgestones”. Even if they do suit him, I’d expect Alonoso to reguarly outqualify Massa and consistently out score him too

    1. Na he means hell be wearing them as head protection, an they’ll suit him better.

      I think he’s having a makeover by GOK !

  7. Multiple F1 Champ? Jackie Stewart?

    Good drivers find a setup that suits their style, great drivers can find the style that suits the set up.. That’s why people call Senna great.

    1. I think Jim Clark is probably a better fit. The rule for Lotus back in the day when trying to setup a car was to only let Clark do 5 laps at a time. 1 out lap, 3 flying, and 1 in lap. Otherwise he was just adjust his style to get around any issues with the car.

      1. now thats a great driver :)

      2. haha, sounds like my Dad and I when playing Forza. He’ll go back and fiddle with the setup time and time again and never get much faster whereas I just drive around any problems unless it’s something seriously holding me back.

        1. You sir, are a great driver… or a lazy child :)

          1. Im going with the latter

  8. repeat of Hammond meets Moss on BBC 4 now for anyone who’s interested

  9. Hopefully the Pirellis will suit both Massa and Schumacher a lot better than the 2010 rubber.

    I think the tyres Bridgestone have produced in the last couple of years have been some of the worst F1 equipment in history. The company tried to toe a line somewhere between “conservatism” for the sake of “brand security”, and some kind of “variety” requested by the powers that be. The end result has been some recalcitrant, utterly useless tyres.

    Somehow I still find it within myself to wish the best for Schumacher even after his borderline-criminal move on Barrichello last year. I think it’s because, as a fan I just can’t stand seeing a pure talent being hobbled by recalcitrant equipment and confused leadership.

    Surely if Pirelli as a sole tyre supplier doesnt work out, it’s time for F1 to re-introduce a tyre war>

    1. Surely if Pirelli as a sole tyre supplier doesnt work out, it’s time for F1 to re-introduce a tyre war

      That’d be nice. Preferably between four or more tyre manufacturers rather than just two, though. “One-size-fits-all” has never been good for F1.

  10. I reckon this “multiple world champion” will be Mika Hakkinen. I hope it is anyway!

  11. (OT bit of tech feedback sorry)

    Keith, in case you didn’t know the mobile version of the site (which I don’t seem to be able to opt out of) doesn’t thread comments, just displays consecutively. iPhone.

    Look forward to the interview though, no doubt you’ll have some good questions we wouldn’t necessarily see asked elsewhere.

  12. Oh, and I know this will get covered closer to the date but generally for a UK person what are the options for watching any of the Valencia and Jerez tests on tv or online? Much more into F1 than I was this time last year and want to (ideally!) get a nice HD look at the 2011 stuff as early as possible. I can sort of pretend the season starts in 3 weeks if I know there’s going to be stuff to watch then :D

    1. If the last few years are anything to go by, I’m 99.7% sure it won’t be televised, and 98.9% sure the online coverage will amount to no more than a webcam on the pit straight

      (Sorry for the pessimism!)

      1. Yeah it’s usually hard enough to find a timing screen let alone a video feed

      2. German TV had some shots of Schumi making it on track for the first time at Mercedes.

        They might be there this year as well.

  13. I’ve yet to see a compelling reason why 9 consecutive fastest sectors in an end-of-season Williams against that grid isn’t enough to get Hulkenburg a top-five team seat this year. Is he likely to be confirmed at FI or as Mercedes’ “test” driver does anyone know?

    1. Hopefully we’ll hear something about the FI lineup this week! I’m hoping for Sutil and di Resta with Hülk as Friday/reserve driver…

  14. Hope Ferrari gives him the opportunity to fight.

  15. You can’t hide behind tires as an excuse for too long, you gotta man up and get on with it.

    1. let’s not forget that he was in a coma, and after some experience like that, your selfconfidence has to suffer. And he is not driving against his friends in a parking lot on the weekend. This is f1.
      So i asume he is almost gone from ferrari, leaving some room for kubica, unless he is like niki lauda, thing that i doubt.

  16. Multiple world champion….Valentino Rossi?

    None of the names you’ll find elsewhere on this site can hold a candle to that guy, except maybe M.Schumacher. But that’s another story.

    Massa, Button and Schumacher in particular, will all be hoping for grippier, softer tyres, instead of the overly conservative items that Bridgestone used. Several other drivers will be hoping that they don’t get what they want.

  17. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    16th January 2011, 4:26

    Excellent for the interview with a champ! About Massa and his impression on the Pirellis, his performance will only depend on what he gets permission to do or just to let opportunities go. Even if you think Massa levels Alonso, the marketing and the big bosses wouldn’t permit Massa to be champion, so I think it’s time for him to look for another team if he wants at least a glance of real racing.

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