Massa “not worried” despite lapse in form

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In the round-up: Felipe Massa

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Massa not worried over form (Sky)

“The pace is there so I’m not worried because I showed in most of the races to be honest [on] the pace. Things have happened not to finish the race and we just need to concentrate and try to keep the pace and just finish the race. I know if nothing strange happens I will finish in a good position.”

Hulkenberg: Sauber needed new deal (Autosport)

“I think it is positive news for the team and it was needed. I didn’t have all the details about what was happening, and it was the management’s situation, but I knew that we didn’t have the budget like the top teams.”

Hulkenberg glad to have tested revised Pirelli tyres (F1)

“There’s not a huge difference to be honest. They’re still black and still round! It’s difficult to filter everything out, but the car feels pretty much the same.”

Wolff ‘on the pace’ after F1 test (BBC)

“I’d seen what he [Daniel Juncadella] had done (on Thursday) and the team were quite impressed by that and I was 0.4s off that so it wasn’t so bad.”

Bernie Ecclestone, the F1 boss on the skids (FT, registration required)

“He spends his days on his mobile phone, bargaining with TV companies, sponsors, team owners and governments keen to host races. Mr Ecclestone can best almost anyone in negotiations. He pleads, bullies, charms – and has even searched bins for notes discarded by rivals. He prefers sealing deals with a handshake. Usually amiable, he has punished those who have crossed him. Those who need seducing, such as Gribkowsky, are invited to F1’s model-rich parties. He says he is ‘not a party guy’ himself.”

Water Retention (ESPN)

“‘There was a tradition where they would weigh the winning driver and give the equivalent amount in chocolate to an orphanage,’ recalls Neil Davis, Tyrrell’s chief mechanic at the time. ‘We knew this was going to happen so we filled Jackie [Stewart’s] overalls with tools and weights. The organisers were a bit shocked when this wee Scotsman tipped the scales at something like 18 stone!'”

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Comment of the day

Yesterday’s Comment of the Day winner didn’t enjoy their experience at Silverstone during the test – today’s did:

The pit lane walk was very good. Most of the teams had 2011 or 2012-spec cars out on display, although the Red Bull certainly looked like the 2013 model, which is probably why they covered up the rear. Lotus were allowing pictures with the car, and Max Chilton came out to sign autographs and take pictures with the fans, which I thought was great.

The garage doors were left open, although there were screens up covering the actual cars??or at least some of the teams used screens. Sauber didn’t feel it was necessary.
@JamieFranklinF1

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On this day in F1

Rubens Barrichello won a bizarre British Grand Prix at Silverstone ten years ago today. The Safety Car came out early on after a piece of David Coulthard’s head rest came off and landed on the straight.

The second deployment was even more bizarre: Neil Horan ran onto the circuit carrying a sign urging people to read the bible. He and the drivers were incredibly fortunate to escape harm, thanks to the efforts of marshal Stephen Green who felled the invader and dragged him off the track.

A dramatic race unfolded once the track had been cleared of debris and priests. Barrichello and Juan Pablo Montoya passed Kimi Raikkonen to take first and second, the Mclaren driver holding on to third.

Image © Ferrari/Ercole Colombo

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49 comments on “Massa “not worried” despite lapse in form”

  1. I have a lot of respect for the marshal that tackled that frankly idiotic priest. Besides, if you’re going to invade the track at least do something worthwhile like dress up as batman or show signs depicting worldwide poverty instead of making your religion look like it’s full of nutcases! :P

    1. Traverse (@)
      21st July 2013, 11:36

      Batman has better things to do! I know him personally and (unfortunately) he’s currently suffering a bout of heatstroke. I told him to put sunscreen on underneath his Batsuit, but he insisted on applying it to the outside…what a wally!

  2. I wonder if Susie has been winding Toto up about being able to drive in testing when his team can’t!

  3. not once but twice there’s a lunatic on the track, not once but twice the green lights fail….those were the days.

    that front jack looks like a chinese knock-off of a segway

  4. What form?

    1. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
      20th July 2013, 3:29

      +1 haha

    2. Maybe his new job application form ?

  5. Was watching the F1 show on sky earlier & they pointed out that the number of DRS passes has more than doubled this year.
    In 2011/2012 by this point in the season DRS had accounted for about 20% off all passes, This year’s its 48% of passes which were done with DRS. It was also pointed out that the DRS passes have been much easier this year than the last 2.

    Martin Brundle put it down in part to teams having now optimized there DRS system’s.
    This means there getting a much larger drag reduction & therefore bigger speed gain which is resulting in more DRS passing which is a lot easier than they were previously.

    I Think its about time for a rethink on DRS.
    Its pretty clear now that no matter how much they tweak it with zone placement & length that there never going to get it right, Too many factors involved to get it to work consistently as an assist.
    The move to 2 zones everywhere has been a failure, Its just helped make passing too easy more often that not & made DRS an overtaking device rather than an assist.

    So for the future I think they should either make DRS less effective by Reducing the number & length of zones to ensure it doesn’t generate passing but mearly works as the assist its supposed to be.
    If they cannot do this then they need to ban it before the majority of passing is DRS generated & before all the passes are so easy there is no longer any excitement in them (As is the case with many DRS passes already to be honest).

    You know I went into 2011 excited about how DRS would work but having seen it in action for 2 1/2yrs I’ve just been growing more & more frustrated at how its been working & im at the point now where I hate it so much that I have turned off races where its proved too effective & produced so many easy passes that Im no longer interesting in watching.
    If its retained & continues to work as it has, 2-3 years time I can see myself just turning off F1 for good as the sort of ‘racing’ DRS has been producing is so far away from what I enjoy watching im seriously losing interest in F1.

    1. I like DRS. Prevents snore-fest-truli-trains.

      1. @joshua-mesh no, cutting back on the dirty air effect by getting rid of these ridiculously intricate front wings and aero-sensitive surfaces prevents Trulli trains. DRS oblitertaes them, which isn’t good either as it destroys defensive driving.

      2. I like DRS. Prevents snore-fest-truli-trains.

        I actually think DRS creates snore-fest’s as the ‘passing’ that DRS generates are all boring & unexciting to watch.

        Watching endless push of a button highway passes that are about as exciting to watch as watching paint dry is way more boring than what we had Pre-DRS where we actually saw proper racing, Hard fought racing with real, hard fought & truly exciting overtaking.

        All DRS has done to F1 is make passing so boring & unexciting to watch that passing is no longer memorable & theres so much of it that it no longer means anything.
        its like a nascar plate race, 80 something lead changes yet by the end you don’t remember any of them because none of them meant anything, Just laps of boring, unexciting, uneventful & totally meaningless position swapping.

        Its just all in the name of quantity over quality!

    2. Maybe F1 is not for you?

      1. @joshua-mesh – Disliking DRS doesn’t equal disliking F1 as a whole.

      2. That’s quite a disrespectful thing to say

      3. By that logic I assume all F1 before 2011 bores you.

        1. Why? Your logic is flawed, doesn’t mean he can’t like both.

          1. No flawed logic there. Their statement suggested that liking DRS is pivotal to liking F1, so it goes to follow…

    3. I would support it’s retention only if the FIA actually opened their eyes and realised the true potential of the concept. DRS should only be utilised in tracks where it is difficult to overtake (eg Hungaroring, Suzuka) or to provide overtaking opportunities in unconventional places where it usually wouldn’t be possible due to the dirty air effect.

      It most definitely shouldn’t be placed in conventional overtaking spots on the longest straights (with certain exceptions such as Catalunya and the Hungaroring) but honestly I’d prefer they just ditched it completely in favour of a turbo boost button in 2014 which could be used tactically (almost exactly like P2P essentially).

    4. The move to 2 zones everywhere has been a failure, Its just helped make passing too easy more often that not & made DRS an overtaking device rather than an assist.

      Agreed. I wouldn’t mind the last German GP level of effective DRS.

      Exact numbers
      **F1 Overtakes after 9 Races**
      2013 Total 639 – DRS 269 – 43%
      2012 Total 617 – DRS 136 – 22%
      2011 Total 696 – DRS 186 – 27%
      (Does not include first lap overtakes)

    5. I don’t mind the DRS overtakes so much as such. Much worse is that they effectively stop overtakes anywhere else on track – why bother risking a difficult overtake when I can get it for free half a lap later?

    6. You know I went into 2011 excited about how DRS would work but having seen it in action for 2 1/2yrs I’ve just been growing more & more frustrated at how its been working & im at the point now where I hate it so much that I have turned off races where its proved too effective & produced so many easy passes that Im no longer interesting in watching. If its retained & continues to work as it has, 2-3 years time I can see myself just turning off F1 for good as the sort of ‘racing’ DRS has been producing is so far away from what I enjoy watching im seriously losing interest in F1.

      Unfortunately I have to agree with this. The real turning point for me was the Spanish Grand Prix, when I really started to hate DRS and the tyres. The worst part of the 2013 season is that the races are not memorable. Just last week it took me about five minutes to remember who had won the Spanish and Chinese GPs, but I can still list all 2010 victors.

      It has now come to a point I just want those ‘boring’ races from pre-2008 back, because since then some key F1 values have been lost. I just want to see the fastest cars with the best drivers in the world driving on the limit for 90 minutes, and the spectacle that produces should flow from this naturally, not induced artificially.

      Regarding your last point: if nothing changes, especially with the ridiculous prices you have to pay to watch a GP both on track as at home, I really don’t see myself watching Formula 1 in five years time either. I am having high hopes for next year, but if 2014 fails to deliver I think I will start picking up WRC or the WEC instead, probably the purest championships out there.

    7. It should be like the DRS in cricket – you’re only allowed to use it twice in each race…

  6. Right. Massa isn’t worried and I didn’t jump like a possessed man when Rui Costa won his second stage in this year’s Tour de France. Not convincing me, bro…

    1. Noone cares bro…

  7. The Young Drivers’ Test sounded like a good event to go to, especially with the pit-lane walk. It seems they had quite a good turnout at Silverstone as well, particularly Friday. I’ve often wondered what Silverstone is like when it’s more peaceful and relaxed as it was for this test (i.e. not the British GP weekend).

  8. “There’s not a huge difference to be honest. They’re still black and still round!” – Nico Hulkenberg

    Probably the single best comment of the whole tire drama.

    1. “Still round” is an improvement over the old ones!

      One of the drivers was saying there was less “deg” – will this mean fewer stops for the rest of the year?

      1. @tomsk

        One of the drivers was saying there was less “deg” – will this mean fewer stops for the rest of the year?

        Good. *grumpy cat expression*

  9. Hulkenberg:

    “I think it is positive news for the team and it was needed. … I knew that we didn’t have the budget like the top teams.”

    Translation: It’s good that I can finally get paid!

  10. Ah, Silverstone 2003, I’ve watched that race at least 7 times on DVD, and it never got old. Classic. :-)

  11. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    20th July 2013, 2:36

    Massa was so unlucky to be affected by the blow-up tyre in Silverstone. That race he was finally racing “honest” (as he says)… In Germany he couldn’t regain momentum. I think Massa takes more time than the average racer to go back to normal after having a bad weekend. He spun in Canada, crashed in Monaco twice, lost terribly (because of that tyre) after a superb start in Silverstone, spun in Germany… definitely not the CV you can expect from a Ferrari driver, not even from the number 2. I hope Ferrari finally accepts “an inexperienced driver” as Hulkenberg for the next year. If they hire Nico, that would tell us if Fernando is really “super Fernando” or if the ghosts from 2007 come hauntinmg again. It can tell us if Hulk is “a real Hulk” too.

    1. If they hire Nico, that would tell us if Fernando is really “super Fernando”

      Fernando is really “super Fernando” with or without hiring Hulkenberg no need to mention this on every discussion on this forum, BTW Nico is a very fast driver who can upset any driver on the grid including Fernando, his achievements in Junior categories are very impressive & in F1 he showed that he can race brilliantly , he will be the right option for Ferrari given his very good quality/cost ratio

      or if the ghosts from 2007 come hauntinmg again

      I remember some people last year saying the same thing about Sergio Perez when he was linked to Massa’s seat

  12. Can someone please explain to me why Ferrari insist on keeping Massa? Fifteen years ago, any driver who made mistakes like the ones he’s been making would have been dumped in a heartbeat. It certainly wouldn’t have been tolerated.

    At least Massa was keeping it on the road during his last slump in form. Now he’s just making the kind of mistakes that I’d expect from Rodolfo Gonzalez – amateurish ones. It’s embarrassing to watch.

  13. Massa’s never worried. Either he is completely delusional, or he is taking Ferrari’s patience for granted.

    He justifies his place with Ferrari by saying that he matched Alonso on pace a few times this year, but he fails to mention that he couldn’t even keep the car on track while trying to maintain that pace.

    I have a feeling he isn’t going to be worried up until the day he is sacked. Which I’m pretty sure is at the end of this season

    1. @todfod I wouldn’t read too much into what drivers (or team bosses for that matter) tell to the press. I’m sure he’s worried, and I’m sure he’s under a lot of pressure. But they put up a brave face to the world, it’s PR speech. The fact Massa is driving so bad has, I think, everything to do with the pressure and worries. Massa seems to me to be a driver that needs a clear head to perform, and no pressure or worries.

      Compare it to football, when a club expresses its support to a manager who’s under pressure you know he’ll be sacked rather sooner than later. Same principle applies here.

    2. So long as he has Mr Blackmail (Alonso) blocking worthy drivers, then why would he be worried? He should have been canned years ago, Ferrari has lost many millions in Constructors points.

      1. Mr.blackmail. Wow. Out of all the retar ded comments I’ve heard, yours definitely takes the cake.

        Even Alonso would be unhappy with such a rubbish#2 driver… and I’m pretty sure Alonso would take anyone on as a teammate other than Hamilton and Vettel.

        The same would go for Hamilton and Vettel, they wouldn’t want Alonso as a teammate either

  14. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    20th July 2013, 7:48

    Speaking of Felipe:

    Does anyone know the cause of his race ending spin in Germany?

    I got the impression it was something mechanical as he span left, despite it being a right hand corner.

    1. I’m still going by the theory he downshifted too quickly, broke the gearbox, locked up his rear wheels and spun; but I’m not sure.

      1. Strange isn’t it how the electrical/gear selection problems had made their way from Alonso’s Ferrari, on Friday, to Massa’s car on race day. An advantage of being number 1 driver, or just a good old conspiracy theory?

        1. the latter :P

      2. You can’t break the gearbox by downshifting early. He’s crashed 3 race weekends in a row, even the rookies don’t do that.

    2. I believe it was confirmed to be driver error.

    3. He said the car was stuck in gear.

  15. I like how it says: “In the round-up: Felipe Massa” and nothing more ;)

  16. Lucas Wilson (@full-throttle-f1)
    20th July 2013, 12:34

    I’m sick of Massa making excuses for his lack of pace.

    1. Nathan (@il-ferrarista)
      20th July 2013, 22:14

      +100, absolutely agree. Seriously he should be kicked out at the end of 2011, but because of ALonso…
      The constructors championship money aren’t *that* important to Ferrari.

  17. Silverstone 2003 was the first race I went to! I remember it like it was yesterday.

    I remember the man running across the circuit and thinking it was a normal occurrence at a Grand Prix. I was only young, though, and had been following the sport for only half a year.

    I also recall coming home and noticing I’d had a blob of ice cream on my nose for the entire race. Ah, memories…

  18. Rui (@ruicaridade)
    20th July 2013, 20:55

    Love the sound of those V10.

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