I have been watching F1 for quite a long time now. I think current Ferrari drivers, Massa and Kimi are not driving to their potential. Both have made lots of errors during period of last 2 years. When Ferrari was clearly the best car, they drove horribly and came close to losing (Kimi-2007) OR lost the championship (Massa-2008) with their disgraceful errors. And if they could not set competative lap times blame was entirely on car, like "it does not suit my driving style". I know Ferrari driver Kimi did win WDC in 2007, but only just, from ROOKIE Hamilton. And Massa's errors were so terrible to watch esp. his spins in Australia, Malaysian and GB.....
I still feel that with driver like Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, they would have won WDC last 2 years with ease (2-3 races to spare). But he has retired. So I think Ferrari should sack both of them (Kimi and Massa) and take someone young and talented like Vettel OR Rosberg OR Kubica who drive with their hearts out and not these 2 jokers who make fun of legenday SCUDERIA FERRRARI with their awful driving!!
I have been watching F1 for quite a long time now. I think current Ferrari drivers, Massa and Kimi are not driving to their potential. Both have made lots of errors during period of last 2 years. When Ferrari was clearly the best car, they drove horribly and came close to losing (Kimi-2007) OR lost the championship (Massa-2008) with their disgraceful errors. And if they could not set competative lap times blame was entirely on car, like "it does not suit my driving style". I know Ferrari driver Kimi did win WDC in 2007, but only just, from ROOKIE Hamilton. And Massa's errors were so terrible to watch esp. his spins in Australia, Malaysian and GB.....
Well, Kimi definitely isn't driving to his potential, and he doesn't seem bothered, although if he wakes up, I reckon there isn't a problem there. Massa is driving to his potential, and he's certainly quick (an inconvenient engine failure at Hungary last season prevented a much better Championship position at a crucial time), but he's not really team leader material. Although I have to say the Ferrari was only marginally (rather than clearly) the best car in the last couple of years, and with McLaren probably concentrating on Hamilton's car from day 1 last season and Ferrari splitting their efforts until the three quarter mark, it doesn't imply total uselessness on the part of Ferrari's drivers.
I still feel that with driver like Michael Schumacher at Ferrari, they would have won WDC last 2 years with ease (2-3 races to spare). But he has retired. So I think Ferrari should sack both of them (Kimi and Massa) and take someone young and talented like Vettel OR Rosberg OR Kubica who drive with their hearts out and not these 2 jokers who make fun of legenday SCUDERIA FERRRARI with their awful driving!!
There isn't another Schumacher on the current grid. Vettel, Rosberg & Kubica have the speed, but they haven't shown the ability to lead at a top team. Closest person is Fernando Alonso, he'd be a better bet than any of the others. Remember when Schumacher came to Ferrari he had already gone to Benneton, built the team around him (so much so that everyone apart from Schumacher who drove the B194 hated it) won two championships and then took all that to Ferrari. Dropping a Vettel or Rosberg or Kubica (especially two of them in one go) in there and expecting them do what Schumacher did at Ferrari would be potentially more disappointing than the current line-up.
In the current climate of testing restrictions and new chassis regulations, having one or two good car development drivers is of the essence. I must say that's an area where the limitations of these two drivers seem to be.
Kimi: At Sauber, his teammate was Heidfeld, who is known as a good car development driver and even better engine development driver, so there was only setup work for Kimi, which is good for a rookie who has so much else to learn. Still, he outshone Heidfeld on pace. At McLaren, he first got into the car that Hakkinen and Coulthard had developed. Then Coulthard continued in that capacity, plus they had the services of Alexander Wurz and Pedro De La Rosa available. That must have helped a lot, because Montoya's tenure at McLaren was too short for him to develop the car much. And wasn't this the season when they won their first race as late as at Spa? Upon Montoya's departure, De La Rosa was promoted to the race seat. Those later cars were basically developed by 4 drivers as opposed to 2, which is something that the testing restrictions are making necessary now. At Ferrari, Kimi got to race a car that Michael Schumacher, Luca Badoer and Massa had developed. With this car, he won the championship. The year after, it was Massa who was in the championship fight. With Marc Gene and Schumacher still on board as tester, this car was even the effort of 5 drivers.
Massa: In his rookie season in the Sauber, when he was partnered with Heidfeld, he didn't always fare much better than what Sauber's weakest rookie J.C. Bouillion had done, so Peter Sauber didn't let him race for the whole season. He went to Ferrari as tester the next year, learning from the likes of Schumacher, Barrichello, Badoer, with the goal of becoming Schumi's successor in the long run. Another year later, he returned to Sauber, partnered by Fisichella, who is a known quantity as a development driver. They used a car that had a gearbox and transmission system from Ferrari, whereas they replaced Heidfeld and Frentzen who still had some influence on the car. It proved to be one of the best seasons that Sauber ever had. The next year, Fisi moved to Renault and enter Jacques Villeneuve. The Canadian is known to be a good engine development driver, but I have to admit that I don't rate him as highly when it comes to the cars themselves. Massa outshone him and was off to Ferrari for the next season, where he got into a car that was developed by Schumacher, Badoer, Barrichello and Marc Gene. For the rest, see the Kimi entry above.
Now is the time that the pair need to prove that they can do their homework of car development. If they can't, Ferrari must promote Luca Badoer to one of the race seats.
"I don't think we should be used to finance (the manufacturers') R&D because they will produce that engine anyway" said Monisha Kaltenborn. "You will never see a Mercedes using a Ferrari engine or the other way round."
no u cant promote Luca Badoer to a perminent race seat at Ferrari... or F1 Rejects will have to remove his profile by years end...
the biggest problem for Ferrari is that they cant do much testing anymore... and they spent all of last season focused on the championship and didnt completly focus on this years car... like the rest of the field did... Ferrari have been able to get away with this in the past cause there has only been minor changes to the rules the past years but this year was full of massive changes.... McLaren are suffering as well for the safe reason....
i think Kimi and Massa are driving there hearts out... i cant undersatnd why some ppl dont think they are... but it has to b so dishartening to b them at the moment with some of the cockups Ferrari have done recently....
Im a sarcastic perverted tourist robbing Australian convict
"I want to grab Nick Fry and beat 3 shades of *BEEP* out of him and have him rotating slowly over a spit!"
StoneColdSpider wrote:no u cant promote Luca Badoer to a perminent race seat at Ferrari... or F1 Rejects will have to remove his profile by years end...
the biggest problem for Ferrari is that they cant do much testing anymore... and they spent all of last season focused on the championship and didnt completly focus on this years car... like the rest of the field did... Ferrari have been able to get away with this in the past cause there has only been minor changes to the rules the past years but this year was full of massive changes.... McLaren are suffering as well for the safe reason....
i think Kimi and Massa are driving there hearts out... i cant undersatnd why some ppl dont think they are... but it has to b so dishartening to b them at the moment with some of the cockups Ferrari have done recently....
Well, not everyone, iirc. Why else would Brawn, Williams and BMW Sauber (all three well documented to having started their '09 car development program well ahead of the pack) be so competitive?
Have to agree with you, though. They are both driving their hearts out and they are getting no praise back from the press, I remember Alain Prost commenting about his first year at McLaren which I think is very relevant to the topic,
"In 1980 I finished three or four times in seventh place. I pushed like mad, yet everyone was gathered around the winner and they were thinking that I was just trundling around. But that's motor racing. So in fact the only thing you can judge in this sport is the long term. You can judge a career or a season, but not one race."
Truer words were never spoken, but perhaps most people in the media need to get to grips with the last sentence: you can't judge a driver from his last race or two.
Besides, who exactly are you going to replace Raikkonen and Massa with at this time? With all the experienced drivers having commitments with other teams, all Ferrari could possibly chase are test drivers but, even then, apart from Nico Hulkenburg (which is a risk in itself in terms of racing him) what other test driver is there that shows potential...?
Chilled Phill wrote:With all the experienced drivers having commitments with other teams, all Ferrari could possibly chase are test drivers but, even then, apart from Nico Hulkenburg (which is a risk in itself in terms of racing him) what other test driver is there that shows potential...?
I do not blame Kimi or Massa, they have what it takes and are both WC caliber. The car is obviously not up to snuff, they are not even using KERS for Shanghai. Also the team seems in disarray - witness the recent shake up and the disaster that was the wet tires in Sepang. All this said, I would love to see F. Alonso at Ferrari
Massa is not world championship material. He only looks quick because he's always in the best car. Vettel, Kubica, or Alonso would have easily won last year's WC in the Ferrari.
Massa would have been WC last year if he didnt make some stupid mistakes at the start of the season..... Massa makes to many mistakes to b a real WC but he always puts in 110%
Im a sarcastic perverted tourist robbing Australian convict
"I want to grab Nick Fry and beat 3 shades of *BEEP* out of him and have him rotating slowly over a spit!"
Kimi And Massa Not Good For Ferrari
