Felipe Massa hinted at a future in touring cars after his F1 career following an appearance in the Trofeo Linea championship yesterday.
Massa drove a Fiat Linea in two practice sessions at Interlagos, improving his time from 1’54.929 in the morning to 1’53.888 in the afternoon. That left him sixth-fastest, 0.8s slower than current championship leader Caca Bueno.
Massa said: “I had a lot of fun today. It’s been ten years since I last drove a Touring car, dating back to 2001 when I raced an Alfa Romeo 155, so I thought I might struggle a bit, so sixth best time in the second session is not that bad.
“I could have been quicker but I hit the chicane when I went out on new tyres, which damaged the front suspension, so the steering felt very heavy.
“I have to say the Trofeo Linea is very interesting to drive: it’s stable and the sequential change works very well.
“This sort of racing could definitely be an option when the day comes that I decide to leave Formula 1.”
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Image © Ferrari spa/Ercole Colombo
Prisoner Monkeys (@prisoner-monkeys)
13th August 2011, 11:39
A lot of drivers say this, but how many of them actually go on to do it?
foolsm8
13th August 2011, 15:20
Well some do, just look at the DTM for example.
Journeyer (@journeyer)
13th August 2011, 15:25
Too many, in my opinion. In DTM alone, we’ve seen DC, Ralf, Hakkinen, Alesi, and Frentzen all make it a post-retirement home.
sw6569 (@sw6569)
13th August 2011, 15:52
Whats worse is that none of them have been very good!
unocv12
13th August 2011, 16:15
Your forgetting Hakkinen….
sw6569 (@sw6569)
14th August 2011, 17:23
Sorry I meant in DTM
raymondu999
15th August 2011, 16:59
Wasn’t Michael Schumacher also rubbish back in DTM? I could be wrong
Dan83
13th August 2011, 16:24
Not very good? All of them are F1 race winners.
ajokay (@)
13th August 2011, 16:36
Yeah, but next to none of them have had much success in touring cars. Many ex-F1 drivers headed over to Japan in the mid-late 90’s to have a go at the JGTC and later the Super GT, which are similar spec to the DTM.
Is Massa competing in the race or was he just trying out qualifying? Never heard of that Fiat either. Wasn’t aware they made anything larger than a Brava. They’re not known for their bigger cars, not in the UK at least.
KlBD
13th August 2011, 16:44
to be fair, Ralph Firman was actually quite good in Super GT until he left this year!
Burnout (@burnout)
14th August 2011, 13:21
The Linea is a sedan for emerging markets. It’s based on the Grande Punto.
Damon (@damon)
13th August 2011, 19:14
“All of them are F1 race winners.”
But they couldn’t beat anybody else in any other series. Which has to mean something.
SennaNmbr1 (@)
13th August 2011, 19:17
F1 is all about the car.
Mlracing (@mlracing)
13th August 2011, 21:36
Driving big open single seaters is not the same as driving cars with a roof. Also these drivers all retired, because they weren’t good enough anymore for F1, lost their drive, or both. I think it’s more like a hobby for them (the real dedication is missing).
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
13th August 2011, 22:06
Usain Bolt may be an epic sprinter, but he wouldn’t win the London marathon. They’re both running at the heart of it but require completely different skill sets.
It’s the same with Formula 1, touring cars, NASCAR or lawnmower racing. All different disciplines with a core similarity, but which require totally different approaches.
It makes the achievements of the likes of Graham Hill, Jim Clark and Mario Andretti all the more impressive – winners across a huge variety of motor racing.
Damon (@damon)
14th August 2011, 9:31
Nonsense, Dan.
Such technologically simple cars as these touring cars require the most basic, fundamental driving abilities.
It’s ridiculously silly to say “He’s been a F1 champion but driving the Fiat requires a skillset he doesn’t have”.
Get out of here, man.
This argument would be partly (yet still only part) right when comparing F1 to MotoGP, but not here.
Sean
14th August 2011, 16:17
FWIW, Dan, I completely agree with you.
It’s about specialization. I’ve watched many, many cases of the incumbent specialists (Spenglers and Paffetts in DTM, Gordon in NASCAR, Whincup in V8S etc.) being unapproachable by top-level drivers from other top-level series when they come in. There’s much more to it than “these are drivers who lost interest at the end of their F1 careers”.
It’s curious to me that DiResta can outperform after moving from DTM to F1, but nobody has done it the other way round. And people like Montoya and Hornish were good in single seaters but have gone nowhere in NASCAR.
There’s no grand unified theory for me beyond the fact that success over the long haul in any series involves lining up a lot of ducks. Some are technical, some are cultural or personal, and they involve different types of preparation and maybe even different types of talent.
It shows me that there’s a heckuva lot more to being a driver, even in less esteemed pro series (how would Coulthard stack up against Plato and Neil?) than knowing where to pick up the throttle or how much toe-in to dial in at a given circuit.
JCost (@jcost)
15th August 2011, 12:02
So we should not expect F1 drivers to outclass everybody else on Top Gears lap times?
Damon (@damon)
15th August 2011, 12:49
Ha! Great point, JCost!
paolo (@paolo)
16th August 2011, 13:33
Damon, thats ridiculous. Of course its a different skillset. Are you telling me that Premiership footballers would also be the best in beach football, no. Or snooker players would be better at pool than professional pool payers, no.
And to J cost – of course F1 drivers will be faster than the people that go on top gear – they are actors and musicians for Christ’s sake!
Dan Thorn (@dan-thorn)
13th August 2011, 11:54
He was racing an Alfa 155 in 2001? Seems a bit outdated! I’d love to know what series that was in, or if it was just a mistake…
If I could pick one discipline to race in, I think Touring Cars or any kind of tin tops would be it. It always looks like such fun.
Felipe Bomeny (@portugoose)
13th August 2011, 14:42
According to wikipedia, he raced in the European Supertouring Championship.
TimG (@timg)
13th August 2011, 16:06
It was the European Touring Car Championship (ETCC), the predecessor to the current WTCC, and it was an Alfa 156 not a 155.
SennaNmbr1 (@)
13th August 2011, 16:09
That bang on the head must’ve done something to his memory!
Keith Collantine (@keithcollantine)
13th August 2011, 16:22
I thought that didn’t sound right! Good knowledge.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th August 2011, 18:13
It did sound curious, thanks for clearing this point TimG!
SennaNmbr1 (@)
13th August 2011, 12:20
Next year! LOL!
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
13th August 2011, 12:26
Nope. He has a contract. Check out https://www.racefans.net/2012-f1-season/2012-f1-drivers-teams/
Ady
13th August 2011, 12:34
didn’t stop Kimi
AndrewTanner (@andrewtanner)
13th August 2011, 18:17
He had nothing left to win ;)
BasCB (@bascb)
13th August 2011, 18:16
It would certainly seem to be so, after all the first line being
seems to hint strongly at quitting after the season (for sure, that might have been a mistake from Keith/Massa and probably should have read F1 career :-D )
Lateralus (@lateralus)
13th August 2011, 14:51
Caca Bueno? Seriously?
Cacarella Bueno
13th August 2011, 18:30
What’s wrong with it?
Fixy (@)
14th August 2011, 17:23
I didn’t remember the last part of your username ;)
I Love the Pope
13th August 2011, 16:25
He could always come and do NASCAR – Juan Pablo has, and it looks like Raikkonen will make the leap eventually.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
13th August 2011, 17:43
I think Massa basically said no to NASCAR in an interview on the Ferrari website a few months ago.
BasCB (@bascb)
13th August 2011, 18:18
I would think Ferrari (or rather FIAT) would like to hold on to Massa as brand ambassador and possible touring car driver in Brazil for quite some years.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
14th August 2011, 9:53
Well that depends what happens his career. Who knows if he’ll still be on good terms with FIAT after 2012.
If he does stay in the FIAT family, I’d love to see him have a go at Le Mans one year, like Fisichella’s done.
lewymp4 (@lewymp4)
13th August 2011, 18:47
Believe me…..many NASCAR fans now, feel that their are too many damn foreigners driving in the series now.
I Love the Pope
13th August 2011, 22:42
Well, not me, though I am an F1 fan too.
F1 98
13th August 2011, 18:43
Well he can race in this series when kobayashi replaces him
Girts (@girts)
13th August 2011, 19:28
That wouldn’t be a surprising move. Most F1 drivers race in other series after their F1 career is finished. A lot of them race sportscars, just look at the Le Mans entry list each year. Others choose touring cars or other formula racing.
However, I don’t think that that day will come soon for Massa. I believe we will see him in F1 for many more years. Even if Massa can’t match Alonso in a Ferrari, he is capable of doing a ‘Kovalainen’ and restarting his career in some midfield team. I think he just needs a change. The man who fought with Lewis Hamilton for the title until the last corner of 2008 season, simply cannot be a weak F1 driver.
infy (@infy)
14th August 2011, 0:14
Correction: The guy who fought with Massa for the title until the last corner of the 2008 season, simply cannot be great driver.
unocv12
14th August 2011, 7:47
oh fk.
Here we go again!!!!! da dun dun dadi da da dun da da daahhh! (yakety sax music)
Is Massa better than Kimi, did kimi lose the motivatin afte rbeing so close to the title then finally getting it and not having that big thing to achieve? Did his mech problems in the middle of the year cause him to lose it mentally? Was the Ferrari 2008 really awesome and Hamilton so much better than everyone else? Is Hamilton actually quite bad? Why is Hekki destroying Trulli was similiar in a Toyota to Glock when Hamilton smashed him? Does that make Hamilton awesome or is there a conspiracy? HOw can it not be a conspiracy if Hamilton smashed Heikki ubt can’t smash Button who barely beat Barichello who was slightly slower than a prefered Schumacher who beat Hill to the 94 title in perhaps an illigal car?
Is that what your saying infy? Because if it isn’t then I think you have a lot of explaining to do!!!
infy (@infy)
14th August 2011, 19:52
Which question exactly?
BROOKSY007 (@brooksy007)
13th August 2011, 23:32
Massa should come down to australia and race in the v8 supercar championship!! They now race in many overseas circuits and bathurst is one of the greatest circuits in the world! Just ask button about it, he was offered a seat in the 888 vodaphone car after his f1 career.
lewymp4 (@lewymp4)
14th August 2011, 1:48
The Mountain is a fantatic circuit, in a fantastic series the Australian V8 Supercars, which IMHO is only surpassed by the best motoracing series in the world….F1.
ed24f1 (@ed24f1)
14th August 2011, 9:54
Well now that Liuzzi is coming to the Gold Coast this year, maybe he can spread the word next year and get more current F1 drivers?
I can’t see FIAT allowing Massa in a Ford or Holden (GM) though…
lopes (@lopes)
14th August 2011, 0:09
Massa promotes this series in Brazil. Actually his family runs it since he spends most of the time away from Brazil. They launched it last year, as part of the Racing Festival, which also has a open-wheeled series (called Formula Future) and a motorcycle one. They all race in the same weekends. The whole festival is sponsored by Fiat, and even the engines of the open-wheel cars are manufactured by them. If I’m not mistaken, the winner of last year’s F-Future got a sponsorship from Ferrari to race in Europe.
When it was launched, Massa said that the idea was to have guest drivers every now and then and that he would do an odd-race whenever he had a chance. That didn’t happen last year (maybe because of the team-order drama) so this is the first time he got to drive it AFAIK.
BasCB (@bascb)
14th August 2011, 12:47
Interesting lopes, thanks for the additional background information.
I would guess Massa might stay in touch with Ferrari and FIAT after 2012 and race here or do some GT racing with them.
Martinuzzo
16th August 2011, 1:56
It is somewhat how Massa own’s category. It is an iniciative to help drivers who are getting out of karting. In Brazil, we are lacking a basic and acessible formula category (like FFord or FBMW) for our young drivers, and is in this slot that the Racing Festival does it’s work. The Trofeo Linea (the Linea is a GrandePunto based sedan for 3rd world markets) is a professional series, with some ex-F1 and ex-Indy/Cart drivers on the line-up. And the Formula Future uses a french chassis with a Fiat engine (not clear wich one).
I’m looking foward to go one of this days. This weekend it was at Interlagos, but i couldn’t go. Let´s see next time. 4 races with 1 ticket? I’m in!!
Cato
14th August 2011, 2:22
I thought there was a ban on testing. This is clearly the Scuderia’s car for next year, getting in some early miles under Massa.
Fixy (@)
14th August 2011, 17:25
6th? He’s getting used to that position (also his car number) ;)