Massa ‘won’t let Alonso through’ next time

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In the round-up: As he leaves Ferrari Felipe Massa tells Fernando Alonso he won’t be getting any more favours on the track.

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Massa bids Ferrari farewell (Ferrari)

“Finally Felipe had an affectionate word for his friend and team-mate Fernando Alonso, joking about the incident in the 2010 German Grand Prix. ‘Thanks also to you Fer, we will meet again on track and this time I will try not to let you through.'”

Brawn excited by ‘extreme’ 2014 rules (Autosport)

“I think it’s going to be a pretty extreme case next year. I’ve been involved in those situations more than once, 1994 was a good example, 2009 was a good example and I’m sure there are ones in between that don’t come to mind!”

Vettel awarded BBC Overseas prize (BBC)

“Sebastian Vettel has been named the BBC Overseas Sports Personality of the Year after winning his fourth successive Formula One world championship.”

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@TimothyKatz has bad news for Luca di Montezemolo:

‘I for one am definitely sick of coming second,’ Montezemolo added.

You didn’t. You came third.
@TimothyKatz

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On this day in F1

Genii Capital took over the Renault F1 team four years ago today.

Image © Ferrari/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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52 comments on “Massa ‘won’t let Alonso through’ next time”

  1. Thanks also to you Fer, we will meet again on track and this time I will try not to let you through.

    I just hope he doesn’t moan too much when he gets a drive-through for ignoring blue flags…

    1. lol I hope Williams is better than that but Massa may see himself in trouble anyway, I’m not expecting Massa to be any faster than Bottas and by far.

  2. hehe nice COTD :D

  3. Massa ‘won’t let Alonso through’ next time

    When he’s getting lapped?

    1. Today’s COTD? hehe

  4. I really can’t imagine it’ll be any problem for Fernando, the only time Massa will have to let Fernando through will be when the blue flags are waving.

  5. Chris (@tophercheese21)
    16th December 2013, 0:33

    Massa said that towards the end of last season, and he would either already be behind Alonso, or Fernando would overtake him on merit.
    Atleast it was good to see Ferrari’s semi-battling for once.

    I doubt Massa will be anywhere near the front of the grid to trouble Alonso next year.

    1. @tophercheese21 I doubt Massa will be anywhere near the front of the grid to trouble Alonso next year.

      And yet no one expected Pastor Maldonado to win a GP for Williams last year either…

      1. Chris (@tophercheese21)
        17th December 2013, 8:22

        And so people expected Williams to continue the upward curve for 2013, but no one expected them to fail.

  6. Given how accustomed Felipe has gotten to jumping out of Fernando’s way over the years, it wouldn’t surprise me if he continued with the trend in 2014 despite them driving for seperate teams.

    1. He didn’t let Alonso through in Abu Dhabi so he’s kept his words already.

      1. Japan. Not Abu Dhabi.

        1. Then that time too.

    2. kinda like Hamilton pulling into Macca pit box, right?! lol… Oh Lewis!

  7. I, for one, welcome our new bull overlords

  8. Maybe Massa is suffering from a disease called Alons(o)bsession.

    It is better to move-on and focus on getting points for his new team. No one expects him to let Alonso pass by. he didn’t do it during the Abu-Dhabi GP.

    I am sure Ferrari know they have no control over Williams.

    1. Just read the referenced article. He said that on the Ferrari event and it was all in good understanding. No need to now bash him for it as if he has “some kind of disease”.

      1. That was not bashing. I said he must move-on from that incident. Isn’t going to help him in anyway in his new team and this was 3 years ago. A lot of water should have passed under the bridge.

        Similar to Monty who keeps saying Massa was 2008 champion for seconds.

    2. It was a joke for goodness sake…..

      1. Cool down. Just my opinion, not to start a debate.

  9. Thanks for that link in the forum @keithcollantine, nothing really censorable in the article but 1 thing that journalists keep doing which is either sloppy or deceptive is this constant reference to C.Horner as Bernies chosen successor long after Bernie himself has denied it, stating that in answering a question about who could take over from him he pointed at Christian, who was walking past, and said “what about him, he could”. Time to drop that succession “theory”.

    1. The modern web journalist seems to make a habit of referencing and calling-back older articles all the time. No doubt it’s done to pad articles because they’re paid by word count or something…

  10. Regarding the COTD, well, a Ferrari driver came second. And it is well known that Ferrari care about the drivers’ championship, not constructors. Look at the outpouring of emotion after Michael won the 2000 drivers title versus the celebrations of the 1999 constructors title. Also, look at Ferrari’s no.1-no.2 policy in their drivers.

    Now, you could make an argument saying “they are a team, they should worry about the constructors and let drivers worry about the drivers’ title”. Obviously, Ferrari think differently. Hence, their different status compared to other teams in the sport as well.

    1. Or like in the past 3 years, they’ve had no chnace in constructors and ALonso (with a bit of help from Massa) has managed to stay in the title hunt for so long.

    2. That’s rubbish. Given that Ferrari are always banging on about ‘the team’ (and that’s also where the money is), I’m pretty sure the constructors is where their real desire is.

      Claiming they’re focussing on the WDC rather than WCC is just massaging driver egos. Also, one tends to begat the other.

      1. @optimaximal The WCC is not necessarily “where the money is”. It’s a lot more complex than that.

        I think people get too caught up on the prize of TV revenue and fail to recognise that, even though no direct payment is awarded, a WDC can be very valuable.

      2. Don’t forget MS’s WDC in 2000 ended a 21 year drought on the team, so of course the celebrations were huge.

        I don’t see how one could argue Ferrari are more concerned about the Constructors title when they admit being a one rooster team. Of course 2014 will be different thank goodness and maybe they have finally figured out that if you squelch one half of the garage it can harm the WCC chances. And as has been pointed out, almost always the WDC winner needed the WCC winning car. And I think having a second rooster on the team should result in 2 great drivers pushing each other in a healthy way and advancing the car so that both of them can displace the competition up at the sharp end of the grid rather than having one languishing in the background leaving the other fending for himself without the support of having the other take points from some key players.

        1. I wouldn’t say that having a tiered driver ranking was necessarily the only indication of the importance that a team places on each championship – Lotus have traditionally run with a ranking system even in years when they weren’t competing for either title, since that is how the team has always been set up.

          Now, Ferrari probably do place a reasonably heavy emphasis on the WDC, but at the same time the WCC is similarly important to them too. Asides from the fact that the financial rewards for winning the WCC outweighs winning the WDC, there is a certain element of prestige for Ferrari too – see their continued irritation at being beaten by what di Montezemolo dismisses as a “soft drinks maker” and the fact that it does seem to have hurt their pride to have lost out to Mercedes this season. They are both valuable to the team, just in different ways – and you can bet that Ferrari will be keen to take both titles sooner rather than later.

  11. David not Coulthard (@)
    16th December 2013, 2:49

    What if Massa gets told that he isn’t racing Fernando (and a messege saying,”Fernando is faster than you – and I’m being literal”.

  12. mmm I wonder why Brawn forgot to mention 1998, which also had a big change in the regulations…

    1. That was probably on of the “ones in between that don’t come to mind”.

    2. Because Ferrari were comprehensively trounced by McLaren that year?

  13. Lets take a look at the facts:
    – Alonso driving for Ferrari in 2014
    – Ferrari finishing in the top 6 regularly in 2013, and for every season back to 1996 for that matter.
    – Massa driving for Williams in 2014
    – Williams being consistently outside the top 10 in 2013, and for many seasons
    – Alonso finishing ahead in championship points of Massa every single year that they were teammates
    – Massa not known for being a good defensive driver
    – DRS makes it exceptionally difficult to hold anyone at bay

    So Massa, if I were you mate, I’d be worried less about Alonso passing you and more worried about how to either drag Williams back into the top 10, or better yet, brown nose your way back into a top team… Just remember, on your CV, your greatest selling point is that you’re the perfect #2 driver.

    1. @dragoll Maybe stop taking his statement literally and more with the jest and snark with which he delivered it?

  14. Lol @ Massa saying he won’t let Alonso through… good luck with that- i don’t think u can ignore the blue flags ;)

  15. ‘Thanks also to you Fer, we will meet again on track and this time I will try not to let you through.’”

    Try being the operative word in the sentence! You may try all you want Felipe… I doubt you´ll be anywere near the sharp end, you´ll be too busy with STR, SAUBER and Marussia!

  16. He’ll have no choice. It’ll be a drive through penalty if he ignores the blue flags.

  17. Oo-err! Comment of the day.
    I probably shouldn’t have written that; unnecessarily bitchy. So I’m sorry if it upset anyone.

    1. T’was a fair comment I’d say.

    2. You shouldn’t have done this. The comment was very funny. Leave the political correctness to the politicians.

  18. If enough people make the same comment about blue flags, does it become Comment of the Day?

    I think Massa’s just relieved he won’t have to wear the new Ferrari race suits in Bertolini’s photo.

  19. Might be just me (I did see it mentioned before though), but giving him just the engine is a bit meh. Why couldn’t Ferrari give Massa the whole car he ran in Interlagos 2008? THat would have been a nice gesture. This is awkward.

    1. The conspiracy theorists might say it’s because they’re worried about Williams/Mercedes having access to Ferrari technology.

  20. Are people that in love with Alonso that they are taking Massa’s words as a genuine threat or intent, and not a snarky quip at the team for allowing that situation in 2010 to happen?

  21. Interesting piece in Swiss Blick (in German) about the current state at Sauber. Seems its still quite tight and unclear where the money is going to come from for the next seasons (and it also hints that far less Mexican money was actually received than hoped – or maybe even than promised/agreed?)

  22. While Felipe is a nice guy I fully expect Bottas to beat him just like Alonso has been doing the past 4 years. I would have preferred he called it quits after Brazil rather than try and eek out a few more seasons at Williams as we all now how well that went for Rubens.

  23. Lol at how many people made a blue flag joke. Wasn’t funny the first time.

    Maybe read through the comments before posting a rubbish joke.

  24. well he might have to. when he sees the blue flags being waved for his Sauber

  25. @TimothyKatz

    Have you received your angry letter from him already?

    1. @ardenflo Ha! No, not yet. Maybe there will be a little dig in the next Horse Whisperer’s message; I’d love to be so famous!

  26. Massa should be more worrid about Bottas more than anything.

  27. Seems like I’m practically alone with what I’m about to say, but I’m not ready to discount FM’s extensive experience in F1, so I’m not as convinced as some that he will have a hard time against Bottas. Sure Bottas has some continuity with the team, but I think FM could be looking at this as a fresh start, with fresh new cars and regs, and he’ll be an equal at Williams. I think and hope he will surprise his naysayers with this new opportunity.

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