Massa Disappoints Ferrari With 3rd Place

Massa Disappoints Ferrari With 3rd Place

Dale Calkins

Felipe Massa has taken flack from Ferrari after he could not keep Fernando Alonso at bay, losing 2nd to the Spaniard, which meant that Schumacher could not take out 4 points from Alonso's Championship lead. This is extremely frustrating for Ferrari but perhaps they should have expected this. When asked about Massa's race at Magny Cours, Ferrari Team Principal Jean Todt responded:

"You know, for us, what is important is to have as many cars as possible in front of the one who is leading the championship if Michael is ahead."

Then when asked if Massa's race could have been better, Todt side stepped, stating that:

"I think your question could be better, that's for sure."

Ferrari Technical Director Ross Brawn however was not so coy

"We are only fifty per cent happy, because we wanted to see Felipe in second place."

Ferrari should however have expected this result. It is certainly obvious that Ferrari told Massa to hold up Alonso in order to allow Schumacher to win unquestionably, but by doing this, Massa lost out. If Massa had have pushed to the maximum from the begining, he may not have slowed up Alonso as much but he would have likely come 2nd anyways. Both Massa and Schumacher were extremely fast in the first stages of the race, then suddenly Massa slowed allowing Alonso to catch up to him, in order to slow the Spaniard down. Alonso could still have passed Massa, but I believe had Massa been allowed to push, that he would ahve come second. Now Massa could certainly be on the way out from Ferrari with Red Bull's Helmut Marko admitting interest in the young Brazilian:

"He is not as fast in the races as Michael Schumacher, but for what he shows for his age and for his experience, he is surely a candidate." "

July 17, 2006

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