Recent performances of Felipe Massa

[bot6]

Tazio -> I don't think Massa has run out of talent, but I do think he has run out of motivation. The "Fernando is faster than you" incident last year showed him that the team he has been a part of for a long time now considers him Alonso's bitch and will not give him a fair shot. And I'm pretty sure he's thinking "what's the point in even trying" at the moment. Especially since if he wants to last in F1, he doesn't really have the option of saying no to Ferrari and trying to fight Alonso, as it would probably bring a swift end to his contract.

[andrew]

I don't think he has run out of confidence or motivation. It is his confidence that has been shot to pieces. First he looses the championship by 1 point (and by Ferrari mind-farts), then he has a huge smash in Hungary, then Ferrari hire Alonso (always seems to be a bad omen for the other driver in the same team) and then he is repeatedly the victim of team orders. Stick him in another front running team and we will see the 2008 Massa.

[raymondu999]

There needs to be a situation where Massa is leading and Alonso has either DNFed or is not 2nd. Then I think we'll see Felipe regaining some of his wits

[Mr Alcatraz]

Tazio -> I don't think Massa has run out of talent, but I do think he has run out of motivation. The "Fernando is faster than you" incident last year showed him that the team he has been a part of for a long time now considers him Alonso's bitch and will not give him a fair shot. And I'm pretty sure he's thinking "what's the point in even trying" at the moment. Especially since if he wants to last in F1, he doesn't really have the option of saying no to Ferrari and trying to fight Alonso, as it would probably bring a swift end to his contract.

I disagree, respectfully that is. I think that Massa is woefully overmatched by his teammate, and suspect he needs his race engineer to talk him around the track during the race. It's not just a matter of manning up. He is being destroyed in the exact same equipment as his teammate. I respect your opinion, however I disagree vehemently. He was outscored by his more talented teammate by over 100 points, last season and this season may be worse. Only a pilot that doesn't have what it takes loses motivation in this situation. Let's see what happens, perhaps he will up his game!

[ringo]

Tazio -> I don't think Massa has run out of talent, but I do think he has run out of motivation. The "Fernando is faster than you" incident last year showed him that the team he has been a part of for a long time now considers him Alonso's bitch and will not give him a fair shot. And I'm pretty sure he's thinking "what's the point in even trying" at the moment. Especially since if he wants to last in F1, he doesn't really have the option of saying no to Ferrari and trying to fight Alonso, as it would probably bring a swift end to his contract.

I disagree, respectfully that is. I think that Massa is woefully overmatched by his teammate, and suspect he needs his race engineer to talk him around the track during the race. It's not just a matter of manning up. He is being destroyed in the exact same equipment as his teammate. I respect your opinion, however I disagree vehemently. He was outscored by his more talented teammate by over 100 points, last season and this season may be worse. Only a pilot that doesn't have what it takes loses motivation in this situation. Let's see what happens, perhaps he will up his game!

I think Massa is like a written off car with a bent chassis. He'll never be the same. It's not his fault, he's actually trying.

I don't think he'll be at ferrari if he doesn't find the podium in atleast 5 races.

His accident effed him up, and he's lacking in some sensory abilities. He's not half the driver he was.
This is not the same guy who whooped Kimi. It's not a matter of motivation, the guy is just physically handicapped. yeah i said it

He should be replaced by Sutil or Glock. Ferrari is no place for an impaired driver.

[bot6]

If Ferrari is not a place for an impaired driver, why do you suggest Sutil for the job?

Joke aside, do you have any info on Massa's health that would support this? Not suggesting you're wrong, just wondering where the info comes from.

Also, Beltoise has won races with one arm and Lauda has won a championship after some pretty traumatic stuff... Massa can still bounce back, he seems less damaged than either of them.

[ringo]

No just a hunch. His skills just seem completely eroded.
Massa used to be error free now he spins like a disco ball and seems to have a bad habbit of placing the car too far to the left and going off.
I was of the opinion last year that he couldn't see well through his left eye, but that's really far fetched.

[nacho]

People react differently, but I believe the treatment Ferrari has given him is enough to ruin his performance. I think with head trauma you never know, even if you're quite the same there might be something affecting I think. His left eye looks like its not in the same place as Ringo has noted. He looked miserable in Australia, just look at the photos, he doesn't seem very happy.

It was such a monumental day in Germany, 1 year after his accident and everything. Would have been a great story.

[andrew]

And Alonso not winning the championship made the shenanigans in Germany all the worse.

Lets start a campaign to get Massa a better seat and get Ferrari thrown out of F1. Now there's athought!

[Pup]

Massa used to be error free

[TauToadmiester]

I agree with Tazio, I think Mass is NOT the driver Alonso is, he might have been closer pre-injury but not last year or now, maybe never. Equal machinery usually shows the better driver.

I also think Massa should leave F, he needs to go to another team, to really prove himself to himself and us, a lesser driver in the faster car/great team will look good, and Massa had chances in superior/equal cars. He almost did it but LH got him!

Alonso has shown that he is very much 'of the top 3 or so' drivers, especially with an inferior car, as shown in his last year at Renault. We have NOT seen this from Massa.

I also think Massa not as bright/smart as some of the other drivers, maybe it is simply the language barrier that I do not see his brilliance, but we do see Alonso, speaking in second language, is a very bright and thoughtful person, as MS is and most true top of heap drivers have to be!

Don't forget it is the brain that tells the muscles what to do and the strategy to do it within!! Smart and fearless is necessary in F1 to be a Great.

I don't think Massa is or will be a Great.

[Robbobnob]

As much as its sad to say it would be beneficial for Massa to leave Ferrari, needs a fresh start to rebuild himself. Hard to do that when hes on the back foot compared to his teammate one of the sports most fearsome drivers on and off the track, in a team pushing for championships.

Coming back from any injury takes time and reconditioning, nothing more so from head trauma. A team with less pressure for performance would bring the best out of Felipe.

just my opinion from my past experiences

[Ciro Pabón]

Massa survived a very serious accident. Apparently there is no lesson in that.

[myurr]

One thing everyone seems to be overlooking is the tyres. Massa is not an adaptable driver in the way Hamilton or Alonso are, he's much more like Button who needs everything just right in order to get the absolute maximum out of the car. He's suffering because he's unable to manage the tyres properly, he's slow to warm them up and seems to struggle to keep them in their operating window.

Australia could be an anomaly as the new Pirellis weren't behaving on that Ferrari. I don't know if they got the setup wrong or their car isn't as good as they thought it was, but either way I don't think we saw Massa's true pace.

That said I do think that Alonso and Ferrari have damaged his confidence and motivation which has exacerbated the situation. When he knows he's struggling with the car he's not motivated to wring it's neck and try and beat performance out of it, as he probably knows he won't quite match Alonso. Instead it feels like he's waiting for the car to come to him believing that he'll beat Alonso fair and square when the car is performing for him.

[marcush.]

in my book massa is the type of driver very much reliant on his environment.He needs to know everybody is believing in him and supporting him to be able to raise his game into height we have already seen.In this he is a quite ordinary character as most people in the world would be able to dig deeper in themselves when positively motivated from an outside source.
Massa has shown in the years before that his strength is vulnerable and he showed more than once races during wich the car was more driving with him than the other way round..
to me the Ferrari story is quickly coming to an end for him IF he has not a golden moment and a good chunk of fortune coming his way soon(would anyone think Ferrari will not already negotiate with other drivers at this time?).
Felipe has earned a lot of money at Ferrari he´s not an old man and maybe he can
emulate something like Barrichello did with his career even though he is just the nearly man...who knows?