Is Kimi being favored by Ferrari?

that was what i was thinking stuart. he made a really nice first showing. at any rate, seems there are 3 fast teams...maybe 4. i hope this bodes well for a great season?

 

32 48 06 24 09

 

It's interesting, I was actually thinking that Ferrari would favor Massa. He was very solid last year, the team likes him, and he had the big "Mo" during the last few races and winter testing. Kimi the new guy is not known for his personality or technical input, but boy is he fast.

I felt that if Massa won the first race, the team would get behind him quickly. And if Kimi had a mechanical failure, DNF in the first couple races, then it would really be interesting to see how the team dealt with Kimi.

Massa has improved tremendously in the last year. I guess part of my problem with him is that when he first showed up on the F1 scene, he was pretty erratic and sloppy, more so than most rookies (Heiki excepted, ). In fact, I used to get him mixed up with Pizzonia all the time. They looked similar and were always going off, getting in accidents.

Kimi has just dealt Massa a HUGE psychological blow. Massa has been the "testing darling" of the critics over the entire winter, and you could see by the look on his face that his world had been rocked. It's as if Kimi had in one day erased all the talk over the winter. The great drivers have always been quick right out of the box, they didn't build up to it. Kimi was a sensation when he burst on the scene - they weren't even sure if he qualified for a FIA super license! What failed him was his car.

As they say, "When the flag drops, the bullsh!t stops!"

 

Agreed.

Despite the fact Massa made it to sixth, I am disappointed (as should be the Scuderia) that he neglected or should I say failed to pass the Renault- no excuses there.

Actually, Kimi and Michael both would have passed Fisi for fifth (or for that matter even the old bridesmaid Rubens).

I had always been a closet fan, maybe not fan, I guess I always liked Kimi and was very happy to hear he was signed. Yet I was equally disheartened to hear how everyone was calling FM the number one driver.

 

Why would Ferrari, or any other team for that matter, favor a driver? Their goal as a team is to win the constructor's championship. If they favored a driver then they would be giving that driver a better car, and the other driver gets the P.O.S. car, and that would be terrible for racing for a championship. I also can't imagine Jean Todt walking up to Massa and say "well, we've decided Raikonnen is our favorite driver." Massa might say, "well, I'll just have to kick the bucket then and hope Takuma Sato is my teammate next year."
No favoritism. Just bad luck. Or not enough hours at Fiorano.

 

The drivers WC is what is important not the manufacturers. Infact the manufacturers title only started in the lates 60's or 70's I think due to the British teams. Thus Ferrari, Mercedes, Alfa Romeo, Bugatti, Maserati, etc. were racing ever so hard all those pre-F1 and early F1 years to get a driver to win.

Remember the driver that wins ... drives a car, thus that car gets credited by association.

I imagine Ferrari cares little for the manufacturers title. They definitely never mentioned the fact that they won it in '82 (or '84?), simply that they had not won since '79.

Thus it makes perfect sense to favour the driver that has 'got it'.
Pete

 

Precisely!

Kimi should get the red colored car-lifter-hoist point-thingamajig...

 

Hey Tony,
Congrats on your picks for the race. Once again, you DO know what you are talking about.
I just want to see both Ferrari drivers on the podium for most of the races this season!
Kimi did show that his speed in the "other" car last year wasn't a mistake, all he needed was a good reliable car. I hope he can stay a second a lap ahead of the rest of the field in future races, but that may be a bit too optimistic....
And whether Massa is top dog or 2nd dog, you have to applaud his climb through the grid up to his finishing place.
Let's just celebrate a good result!
B

 

Thanks Byron, it was great watching the race, and nice to see a Ferrari win again. Too bad you were not down here.

 

Massa had a great race. I was happy with the results from ferrari after massa's problem. I think its gonna be an awesome year for F1 fans.

 

Massa is OK.
Kimi is another level.
If Kimi had the tranny problem the bit@#ing would be all over this board as he is "hard on equipment".
It was said to me that Massa was on a full load of fuel thus the slower times....the whole race ?
I would have loved to see a KR and MS showdown. If FM doesnt get up to speed this may happen (with luck).
Yes its too early to bury FM but I see the pall bearers lining up.

 

Scuderia980 sums it up.

 

I was wondering how long it would take for the Massa contingent to start making excuses. It took one race...

I could not help but recall hearing how Massa is the team favorite and how it is going to take Kimi several races to settle in, and how insiders believe Massa is faster than Kimi, etc, etc, etc. As the saying goes, when the flag drops, the bullsh4t stops. And in Australia it did.

Massa's race was dismal. He cost Ferrari several points in the WCC race with his mediocrity.

In one race, ONE RACE, Kimi demonstrated who is #1 at Ferrari. Massa screwed the pooch in qualifying (and not for the last time in 2007, mark my words), he managed the 8th fastest lap in the race, being outpaced by F1 giants such as Heidfeld, Fisi and Rosberg, and demonstrating to everyone why he is lucky to be behind the wheel of a Ferrari. I can think of 10 drivers on the grid who could have done a better job than Massa.

I am going to save this post. I figure I will be copying it several times this season on Mondays after GPs.

MARK MY WORDS: Massa will never win a race where Kimi doesn't have a problem.

 

Massa came from dead last to sixth during the race. This was a fantastic, calculative performance which gave him championship points after fate dealt him a bad hand in qualifying. Melbourne is not a track that lends well to many passing opportunities. Massa's biggest problem was spending as much time behind the globo cars.

You can't compare this man on this day to any other driver because the circumstances are completely different. There are a hundred factors to take into consideration.

I don't think anyone at ferrari has been relegated to p1/p2 just an unfortunante mechanical circumstance in quali that kept their from being a good battle at the front.

Don't you think its a bit early to be selling out on who is the Ferrari p1/p2 driver yet?

Cheers

Michael,

 

i often wonder..they pass the pits on the main straight at over 250 km/h...how the heck can they see those digits?

 

I wondered how long it would take Senna3xWC to say "I told you so." Now we know. Just so happens I TOTALLY agree with him on this and so stated on a previous post. +1

 

from f1-live.com :



Kimi Raikkonen's triumph on his Ferrari debut does not make a difference to the pecking order within the Italian squad.

That is the insistence of team boss Jean Todt, who after celebrating on the podium with the Finnish driver commiserated with the sixth placed Felipe Massa at Albert Park.

Massa had dominated the winter pre-season and Australia's official practice sessions but then dropped to the rear of the grid following a gearbox failure in qualifying and then a subsequent engine change.

"There is no number one or number two driver," Todt said in Melbourne.


"We will see over the season how things go but at the moment we completely accept what happens whatever the order as long as (the drivers) are in front."

Todt vowed that Ferrari will apply 'a lot of effort' in the days and weeks prior to the Malaysian Grand Prix in order to get to the bottom of the gearbox glitch.

"We have proved to be quick but we must also be reliable."

 

POSTED SUNDAY AT 9:31 AM.

Referring to Massa winning races in 2007.

 

from autosport.com :

Di Montezemolo also praised both his drivers after their performances on Sunday.

While Raikkonen won the race, teammate Felipe Massa came home in sixth position after starting from the back of the grid following a mechanical problem in qualifying.

"Did you see how good Massa was? He was a boy when we hired him, now he's a complete driver. I like this Kimi: he speaks very little, but sticks to what matters. He drove like a king the perfect car.

"Whichever of our drivers wins the championship, just one word matters: Ferrari."

 

+2

 

Not quite, they actually do care a good deal about. At least the current marketing department from Ferrari: They count the manufacturers' title and put those numbers even on badges mounted in the production cars. 1999 for instance is counted as such.

And yes, 82 was another year where circumstances prevented the driver's title, but not the manufacturers.

Driver's title is the prime target, but if that gets out of reach, the manufacturer's crown is the next best thing.

So regarding Massa, Ferrari has a vital interest to give him equal material to Kimi. And I'm pretty sure they both will get equal treatment at least until the halfway point of the season. So in a sense this season is different from e.g. MS and Barrichello where Rubens had to break for Michael in Zeltweg. This won't happen this year at least for the first half of the season. Thereafter they probably establish an internal rule depending on who'll be leading in the points.

PS: I think the Scuderia should actually give Massa the better equipment. After all Kimi has already an unfair advantage: Talent

 

LOL

 

Was fate driving his car in qualifying? I thought Massa was.

Massa's biggest problem is he doesn't know how to pass. Senna and Schumacher never seemed to have trouble making it past backmarkers. How many fastest laps did Schumacher have at Suzuka last season? That is how a champion drives when he experiences problems. You can sugar coat it however you wish but Massa was a major disappointment last weekend and, furthermore, his lack of performance cost the team valuable points in the WCC.

Kimi had no problems driving a car that he was "supposedly" unfamiliar with, on tires that he was "supposedly" still uncomfortable on, with a team that was "supposedly" not completely behind him. What is Massa's excuse?

 

Again I totally agree.

Look on the bright side...

If Massa keeps starting from the back, he will get much needed passing practice. (Unfortunately, this could cost Scuderia Ferrari much needed points toward WCC )

 

How people can praise Massa for making it up to sixth when Kimi WON in Bahrain from last place on the grid is beyond me.