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I really hope people dont come down on Lewis like a ton of bricks for making this statement. I’m religious and I know exactly what Lewis is trying to say. I also believe that accidents like Schumacher’s happen for a reason.
I started watching F1 during the 2009 season. I think my first race was the German GP at the Nurburgring and Ferrari were in the doldrums at the time. So here I was watching the race unfold before me and this guy in the Ferrari with the lime/green bright helmet caught my attention and I still can’t explain why to be honest. For some reason I wanted this guy to succeed even though I had never watched an F1 race prior to that day. I was ecstatic when he made the podium in that Ferrari.
But then tragedy struck. I can’t remember whether it was the following race the next week but I vividly recall his dreadful crash at the Hungaroring. I was devastated and I genuinely feared he was going to die. However, his accident made my support for him grow as I quickly realised just how quickly things could change in life and Massa unfortunately was an example of this fact. So I just thought that it could only take a short time before he would win races again. But for the rest of the Hungarian GP I was deeply concerned and also feared he may never be the same.
I went and did done some research on the man himself and I learned more about his Sauber career and that I had missed out what happened the year before at his home race in Brazil when he lost the championship in such a cruel manner made my support for him grow even more. The way he dignified himself after the race for me simply has to rank amongst the greatest moments in F1 history. It was just so refreshing to see someone accept defeat and be so magnanimous rather than the silly mind games and sore loser attitude we tend to get from so called “champions” on the grid today.
Anyway, recent seasons have been tough. But I think the criticism he has received has been too harsh but such is the way of F1. I was massively dissapointed during the German GP in 2010 when he had to surrender a win I was sure he was going to get. I’ve been puzzled as to where the combative racer of old had gone to. It came back at the end of 2012 where some of his driving was insane. I remember how well he helped Alonso at his home race and how brilliant his comeback drive in Singapore was that season.
Moving to Williams I think couldn’t have been a better Idea in my opinion. He needs a new environment and new motivations. I disagree completely with people who say It’s a step backward when really in life you need to go back to basics in order to progress. He will have a good team of people around him without having a world champion teammate for once!
I think he’s fully capable of challenging for a podium or even a race win next season!
I for one really enjoyed the NFS SHIFT 2 UNLEASHED game. It’s far from a proper simulator but there are so many awesome cars to choose from as well as there being both the FIA GT1 and GT3 World championship series included. I actually had more fun playing this game than I did on GT5 to be honest.
Where this game really scores for me is the driver’s experience. In other racing games you tend to control the car whereas on SHIFT you actually get to be the driver in that there is an innovative “helmet cam” whereby a player would get this awesome sense of speed and damage when you crash rather than the simple “THUD” you would get on GT5. The car noises are way more realistic and menacing as well. A V12 sounds like a V12!
I really hope that rumour about the Williams-Massa link is true although considering it’s from a Brazilian paper I fear it’s more wishful thinking than anything else. Now, I’m aware of all the criticism and backlash Massa has received over the years for his sheer lack of performance up against Alonso and while most of it is justified I genuinely believe that a new team with a new environment could really revitalise his career and bring back his speed. Everyone knows Massa is a confidence driver and I think Williams is the perfect scenario in that he won’t have to worry about a super-talented world champion teammate or have the pressure of racing for Ferrari on him any more.
He has already proven this year that his qualifying speed on occasion in comparison to Alonso is still there.
Slightly off topic but by the time 2015 comes around it would be 10 years since Alonso won his first championship.
If he doesn’t win the title in 2014 then it would be 9 years since his last title, almost a decade.
Surely that’s got to be the longest gap between titles in F1 History? (Providing he wins another one in the future).I really would love for this to happen. It think it would be fantastic to see Ferrari vs Audi vs Toyota vs Porsche. Four major car manufacturers battling it out; for Endurance Racing’s sake it would be incredible.
If this is true(which i kinda doubt it is) I just wonder which drivers they would choose for the team. They would have so many options……..
It makes more sense to go for Kimi next year in my view. Yes, they have been winning titles but there will be rule changes next and there is a good chance RB wont have the best all round car; so they are going to need every point they can possibly get from both cars. Simply relying on Sebastian to score all the wins and podiums may not be enough.
And this idea of grooming doesn’t make sense either. I mean isn’t that the whole point of Toro Rosso? Red Bull cant really afford to wait for him to find his feet as they require instant results for the championship.
Kimi Raikkonen any day of the week. Two world champions in the same team is one of the awesome things about F1. I admire Vettel’s ability but i’m just sick of seeing him constantly never have to worry about his teammate who just isn’t good enough to challenge him.
I still cant understand the hype surrounding Ricciardo to be honest. Just because you qualify in the top 10 every other race in a midfield car that isnt too bad doesnt warrant a seat in the best team in F1. Heck, people have even conveniently forgotten the fact that it is JEV who has more points and it is JEV who has TR’s best result of the year.
Im not saying he is better than Ricciardo but i would much rather see two heavyweights of F1 battling for supremacy in the same team than yet another driver who will have no answer to Vettel’s speed. We’ve already been there with Webber.
It’s got to be Massa in my opinion. Felipe has show that in the right conditions and with the car set -up to his liking, he can challenge at the front consistently. Also the fact that Massa has been paired with tougher team-mates throughout his career. In 2006, there were races where he was super quick, beating Schumacher at times especially in qualifying. 2007 illustrated his qualifying speed as he took 6 poles against a driver whom many regarded as the fastest in F1 at the time. Most especially, 2008 proved not only could he mount a consistent title challenge and comprehensively beat his world champion team-mate, he didn’t choke in the end like Webber did in 2010. His race in Brazil 2008 is unfairly overlooked in my view; while Lewis Hamilton was floundering in conditions that were supposed to suit him, Massa kept it together at the front from start to finish in a race that came with it monumental pressure.
Webber was impressive in 2009 and 2010 no doubt about it. But a part of why he was close to Vettel in 2010 was as a result of Vettel’s reliability issues and inexperience, this period is where Webber should have capitalised on Vettel’s weakness and seized the title, but he was nowhere in the last few crucial races.
I think they should give Grosjean until the end of the season and then review his situation. If he continues to cause accidents then I think they will release him. I agree with Kingshark in that I would love for them to try out a rookie like Frijns but I can’t see that happening as I would imagine they would prefer a safer pair of hands. Hulkenburg would be my choice to replace Grosjean.
Surely Jean Alesi must qualify for being the unluckiest and being underrated? I’ve lost count how many times the guy would deliver superb performances (sometimes in terrible machinery) in races only for his car to snap while leading or in a decent grid postion. I mean, he retired from the lead at Spa 91, Monza 94 and 95, Monaco 95 and 96. There are probably more as well…
