Massa a championship contender
2008-08-25 10:30
Natalie Le Clue
In the Hungarian GP three weeks ago it was a case of so close yet so far for Felipe Massa. Three weeks later that bitter taste was replaced with the sweet tang of victory champagne.
In the very first race to be run at the Valencia street-track, initial estimations were that we were in for an unpredictable race... but that didn't take into account a certain Brazilian driving a Ferrari.
In an exemplary driving performance, Massa made McLaren's Lewis Hamilton look positively static. I found myself wondering from time to time if Hamilton was nursing some kind of problem seeing that he didn't ever look like matching the pace of the Ferrari, let alone beating it; which leads perfectly into my next point.
People have hinted at the notion that Hamilton probably settled for second spot in the race fairly early on. Firstly, I've had this impression from Hamilton in earlier races this season, and secondly if this is really his temperament and attitude, does he deserve to win a championship?
I know most people will be saying of course, he is an excellent and consistent driver. I agree as I have a lot of respect for Lewis. However, F1 is the most unpredictable sport in the world. Who is not to say that the driver leading won't commit an error and run off the track momentarily? In this scenario where will Hamilton be? That's right, he would've settled for second place with no possibility of taking advantage of the opportunity.
Looking at some of the greatest drivers in F1, all of them have carried the belief that it's not over until flag drops. Michael Schumacher, conveniently present this weekend, was probably the pioneer of this theory. There were countless instances in Schumacher's career where he picked up a place or even victory in the dying stages of a race.
Kimi Raikkonen is the reigning champion because he has such a tremendous fighting spirit, irrespective of the odds. Surely a driver like Hamilton, with a mass following, owes his fans that much? It would be rather disappointing to support a driver who, when his back is to the wall, folds so quickly. Where's your chutzpah Lewis!
Unsafe pitlane release
What would F1 be without controversy? For one it would be easier on the nerves!
The main talking-point in the race was the unsafe pitlane release of Massa into the path of Adrian Sutil.
Firstly, Ferrari's pitstop sequence should be clarified. Teams generally make use of the conventional 'lollipop' to control the release of the car. The lollipop is a manual device operated by the chief mechanic. However, Ferrari don't make use of this device as they have opted for high-tech semi-automatic lights. In a quite ingenious way the various engineers press a button when they have completed their task in the pitstop, in turn illuminating the lights visible to the driver. The green light lit up in front of Massa and that's what he responded too. Unfortunately he was released within a hair's-breadth of Sutil. Massa would've collided with the pitwall was it not for a cool head.
The highly unbiased commentators of ITV-F1 (yeah right!) immediately got on the bandwagon calling for a penalty to be dished out to Massa. My view of the incident was that it may have been a bit dicey, initially. With further thought and considering that Sutil would've been lapped by the Ferrari within the next couple of corners and the fact that Massa hadn't been released directly into the path of the Force India car, I didn't see any reason to enforce a penalty against Massa and in turn rob him of such a special victory in the process.
Thankfully sanity prevailed and shortly after the completion of the Grand Prix, the race stewards announced that Massa was 'let off' with a warning and a 10 000 euro fine.
On the point of Massa's incredible form, one question needs asking: Was that a championship winning performance? Personally, I'd say you can't get much closer to perfection than that.