Felipe Massa's annual charity kart race paid tribute to Schumacher

While the ninth edition of Felipe Massa's charity kart race did not have quite as many international stars as it has had in the past, it was a good show none the less.

Current and former F1 drivers joined Massa in a tribute to Michael Schumacher. Among them, Jules Bianchi, Rubens Barrichello, Vito Liuzzi, Sebastian Buemi, Nelson Piquet Jr., Bruno Senna, Lucas De Grassi, Ricardo Zonta, Luciano Burti all of them, along with a bunch of touring car drivers, had at it without giving each other much quarter.

Put a bunch pro racers in karts and it's bound to be fun. Pro tip for F1, want more "show"? Rather than the idiotic double point rule, try putting everyone in streamlined karts an let them have at it for points!  



Final results can be found here

Let's talk about Alonso and Raikkonen...and a bit about Massa.

Since the Raikkonen announcement, the only ones more giddy than Ferrari fans (and Bernie Ecclestone) have been the, mostly British, Alonso haters convinced the Iceman will wipe the floor with him and force him into a hissy fit.

Got news for you guys:   not happening.

Kimi and Fernando are now seasoned professionals:

Kimi will be 35 next season, Fernando 33.   They have been around the block.  It's not to say Fernando might not get impatient with the team but if he does it will be because Ferrari will not have been able to come up with a competitive car not because of Raikkonen hiring, an operation apparently a year in the making.

But, with Hamilton at Mclaren you say: 

Very different situation.  Alonso went to Mclaren in 2007 convinced he would be the #1 driver (he was a 2 time Champion after all) he found the team had other ideas to go along with stolen owner's manuals.    With Ferrari next year, it's clear the whole point of hiring Raikkonen is to change directions away from the champion and brazilian doormat driver combos the Scuderia had for the last 13 seasons.
Since the Mclaren days  Alonso had changed and matured tremendously, his never give up attitude now a model for Hamilton 2.0, you may have noticed.

Oh but Kimi will be faster than you Fernando, you say:

No,  Kimi will push Fernando hard but there is no doubt Alonso is, all else being equal, the strongest driver in F1 today.  If anything Alonso should feel measuring himself in the same car against one of the other three top drivers of the moment is much more satisfying than being faster than Massa,    Red Bull for Vettel picked an obviously "#2" second driver.

I also read comments from Brazilian fans lamenting how Ferrari ruined Massa's career, forcing him to be subordinate.  Massa  was touted as Schumacher's protege but then when the big man retired Ferrari hired Kimi as #1 and after Massa almost won the championship, Ferrari hired Alonso.
Did "Felipe, baby" stand up and leave? No, he (understandably) wanted to be a Ferrari driver so badly he accepted the subordinate role.

Ferrari for their part have been very loyal to him, perhaps more than any other team would have been, maybe because he was happy to wear the Santa suit at company christmas parties.

I don't see where he could drive next year,  Sauber perhaps if the Swiss team can find a way to keep Sirotkin as test driver for the first year.  There he would bring good relations with engine supplier Ferrari and a wealth of invaluable experience.

Massa Crashes Massively in Monaco

Felipe Massa made his  qualifying  for the 2013 Monaco GP more complicated after this nasty crash in practice this morning.    Massa was approaching the St Devote turn at the end of the front straight when a huge lock up put him into the barriers.   It's not clear if it was an error on his part or if there was a technical issue involved but Massa will need a new gearbox and therefore will be hit with a five spot grid penalty.



Massa was not the only one crashing in the final practice session,  Lotus' Romain Grosjean, right after turning the second fastest time  had his second intimate encounter with the St Devote barriers this week end.  Adrian Sutil crashed his Force India just before Casino Square.

FP3 results

Pos Driver                Team                  Time        Gap         Laps
 1. Nico Rosberg          Mercedes              1m14.378s               22
 2. Romain Grosjean       Lotus-Renault         1m15.039s   + 0.661s    13
 3. Sebastian Vettel      Red Bull-Renault      1m15.261s   + 0.883s    17
 4. Fernando Alonso       Ferrari               1m15.286s   + 0.908s    17
 5. Lewis Hamilton        Mercedes              1m15.311s   + 0.933s    20
 6. Kimi Raikkonen        Lotus-Renault         1m15.380s   + 1.002s    19
 7. Mark Webber           Red Bull-Renault      1m15.550s   + 1.172s    20
 8. Paul di Resta         Force India-Mercedes  1m15.594s   + 1.216s    17
 9. Pastor Maldonado      Williams-Renault      1m15.861s   + 1.483s    15
10. Nico Hulkenberg       Sauber-Ferrari        1m15.926s   + 1.548s    25
11. Sergio Perez          McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.958s   + 1.580s    23
12. Jenson Button         McLaren-Mercedes      1m15.976s   + 1.598s    19
13. Jean-Eric Vergne      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m15.976s   + 1.598s    21
14. Daniel Ricciardo      Toro Rosso-Ferrari    1m16.060s   + 1.682s    16
15. Adrian Sutil          Force India-Mercedes  1m16.068s   + 1.690s    12
16. Felipe Massa          Ferrari               1m16.105s   + 1.727s     8
17. Esteban Gutierrez     Sauber-Ferrari        1m16.427s   + 2.049s    26
18. Valtteri Bottas       Williams-Renault      1m16.933s   + 2.555s    17
19. Charles Pic           Caterham-Renault      1m17.902s   + 3.524s    20
20. Giedo van der Garde   Caterham-Renault      1m18.102s   + 3.724s    20
21. Jules Bianchi         Marussia-Cosworth     1m18.706s   + 4.328s    22
22. Max Chilton           Marussia-Cosworth     1m19.228s   + 4.850s    22

Alonso, Not Good At Being A Passenger.

Felipe looks much more calm when Fernando is driving then when they switch places,   Nando looks worried!

Press event for Santander in Barcellona.  Massa and Alonso get to do two laps in the same car.  Being an Asturian and a Brazilian of course they communicate in ... "colorful" Italian.   In the first lap Fernando tells Massa he'll try to catch the other demo 458 but both cars slide around a lot. Note to first day 458 owners: even Alonso will skid on brand new tires!


Curious thing, Alonso uses his right to brake on the street car and is surprised to see Massa using his left.

Both guys seem genuinely impressed by the 458.

Massa is a SPECTACULAR driver, OK, maybe he benefits from warmer tires but man, that was a great lap.
(tx Masamune!)

Massa Rides A Ferrari Tricycle

Felipe Massa was braking for Turn 10 at the Circuit de Catalunya when the from left wheel on his Ferrari F138 decided it had had enough. Failed wheel hub said Ferrari, not what you want to see with just one day of testing left but, then again, that's what testing is for.

Barrichello back at Ferrari

Ferrari today announced it had re-hired Rubens Barrichello to step in for the underperforming Felipe Massa, starting from the Chinese GP on April 14.

"I have complete faith in Felipe" Ferrari boss Luca di Montezemolo was quoted as saying last week and to many insiders that spelled doom for one Brazilian but, as it turned out, a surprising reprieve from Indy car purgatory for another.

"At the end of the day, Rubens is the most experienced Formula 1 driver out there" said Stefano Domenicali " and to be honest. when we looked at the available drivers the choice was simple, nobody has more experience in being a Barrichello than Rubens" " Felipe was very good at being Barrichello for many years but given our needs to develop the F2012 and support Fernando, we had to go with the original Barrichello".

Rubens will travel back to Maranello immediately following Sunday's Indy Car race at Barber Motorsport Park where he qualified 14th and complained about not being given rookie status.

Barrichello was named as the most popular choice to replace Massa in a recent Autosprint reader poll.

Massa working on 2013.

Think it's easy being a Formula 1 driver at Ferrari?

Imagine you are Felipe Massa, the Rodney Dangerfield of F1, under mostrer pressure for not performing in the first race of your do or die year. You want to fulfill your contractual obligations but it has to be this, pumping gas with everyone taking pictures?   PR Face Palm.

Get a room already!

How Felipe Massa though he could leave the door open that much and have Hamilton NOT hit him we'll never know. It's not like it's the first time Hamilton has tried that exact move. Just in Monaco he did it twice, to Massa at the hairpin and to Maldonado at St.Devote, both resulting in epic fails for the Brit.

The issue here is that Hamilton has decided he is Senna and he saw the movie, and he read the quote about going for the gap every time, blah blah blah. It's obvious Lewis believes people should just move out of the way when he makes any move, thus his surprised whine after the incident.
But he is not Senna, this is a different century and a different Formula 1. That Hamilton believes anyone in the top tier (and some in the second tier) will move aside goes a long way towards explaining why he painted Bob Marley on his helmet. Pass it over Lewis!

Massa's penalty is proof the incessant whining about being "singled out", is working for Hamilton. That and having Johnny Herbert as the "expert" steward in India. That was at best a racing incident, but judge for yourself after the jump.

Other than this incident, nothing really happened at the Indian GP, just a boring procession with the usual results. Big losers have to be Webber and Hamilton and possibly Force India for a rather poor showing in front of the home crowd.

The Lewis and Felipe Show.

This will be "the incident" the 2011 Singapore GP will be remembered for. In the end it's racing and frankly neither one of these two is the sharpest pencil in the F1 box at the moment. Hamilton was pretty shameful bitching at his team for the qualifying mistake and then declaring he does not want to be lame like Barrichello (Ok that was kind of funny). You can't do that, not when you are going to have a start like that and then make a mistake like he did with Massa. Note that that is not the first time Massa does something like that, a few years back when he bumped with Alonso they had words after the race, or more precisely Massa went at it, Alonso just smiled and brushed it off. Then again Alonso won that race. Lewis instead threw a hissy fit. Oh well, at least he lucked out with Grandpa Schumi's crash and ended up in the points after all. Drivers of the race: Vettel for being an alien and, again, Jenson Button for being in a state of grace right now. I think that really is what's driving Hamilton off the deep end: he will enter 2012 as a de facto #2 at Mclaren in many people's eyes .

Ferrari Roller Coaster will rip your face off

OK, maybe not rip your face off but you WILL do a good Jeremy Clarkson driving an Atom impression.




"POV (Point of View) footage of Formula Rossa - the world's fastest roller coaster. It is a hydraulically launched Intamin AG ride that reaches a top speed of 240km/hr in just under 4 seconds.

Strap yourself into the F1™ cockpit and hold onto your soul as you blast away on the fastest roller coaster on the planet. You'll accelerate up to 240km/h and see what 4.8 Gs really feels like. You'll scream over the track and 52 meters into the sky before flying through the chicanes, inspired from some of the most famous race tracks in the world, and across the finish line, with an adrenaline kick worthy of the Grand Prix. Needless to say, you'll have to wear safety goggles for the duration of the ride, just like every other racer that takes on Grand Prix speeds. It's the world's fastest roller coaster in all its F1™ glory."

Brazilian Magistrate Threatens to Arrest Massa...

...if he allows Alonso to pass him again as he did in Germany!

That's the treat expressed by prosecutor Paulo Castilho who invoked Brazil's "Sporting Statute" which includes a two to six year jail sentence for those found guilty of "Sporting Fraud". Good luck with that.

Meanwhile Massa was more humorous in a TV interview. When asked what it is that Alonso has to make him a the number one at Ferrari, Felipe said: "Fleas". We figure he was partly mesmerized by his interviewer, the beautiful and brilliant Gianne Albertoni!



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Massa: "Ferrari will not turn me into another Barrichello"

Ouch, old Rubens just cannot get any respect, not even from his buddy and compatriot Felipe Massa.

Massa, in an interview in Germany's Sport Bild, answered Luca di Montezemolo call for him to step up his performance and help Alonso with a resounding " you're not gonna make me your bitch, like Rubens"!

"I'm sure Ferrari will not make of me another Rubens Barrichello. If this were to happen, I would stop racing for Ferrari, I will not take part in any race where the objective is to come in second"

Nice words Felipe but perhaps then you should not have pulled over in Germany then. At least Barrichello waited until the final straight.

Looks to me like Felipe is negotiating for next year, he'll help Alonso these four races if he can get an assurance of parity for 2011. The reply came promptly from Montezuma himself: "Felipe will always be a first drive at Ferrari, I expect from him first drive performances in the final races and next year"

Translation: "Felipe you shot your mouth off against the team, if you don't come in precisely one position behind Alonso for the rest of the season, you're toast"end of post

Off Week F1 Rumor Roundup: Schumacher, Durango, Massa, and suspensions

Running the gamut from National Enquirer on up, here it goes.

Schumacher might call it a day at the end of the season:

The reasons are obvious if one looks at the season so far, Schumacher's return has been less than spectacular. Given the expectations how could it be anything but. Schumi has a three year contract with Mercedes but Eurosport reports on "insistent rumors" that he's not happy being effectively a #2 to Rosberg and is considering retiring again at the end of the season.

Believability Index: 3.5 out of 10.

Durango shoots for F1 entry in 2011.

Durango an Italian GP2 team who could not complete last season because it ran out of money has been accepted by the FIA as one of the new team applicants for next year.
So how is a team with no money for GP2 to finance an F1 campaign? According to their web site and press release, there was no sponsor interest in GP2 but fundraising was possible with a Formula 1 prospect. Interesting.

Chances of Making it: 1 out of 10

Ferrari to renew Massa's contract.

Domenicali said he is in favor but really, how can you say otherwise three races into the season about the driver who is leading the championship? If memory serves, Ferrari was swearing up and down that they were happy with Raikkonen too, and building a contract renewal on a single phrase is at best, premature.

Felipe's chances? 5 out of 10.


Variable height cheater suspensions banned.

But Red Bull is not cheating and the FIA said their suspension is legal... wait, what? So innovative solutions in suspensions may or may not be legal but Mclaren's f-duct and it's future imitators are?

Confusion Index 10 out of 10.




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Ferrari F10: ride with Felipe Massa

Love helmet cams, even when they are not exactly pointed properly. A short ride in the 2010 Ferrari F10 with Felipe Massa on a wet day during the recent tests at Jerez.





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Track Day World Championship: Ferrari 599 XX Take to the Track

Valencia saw not just Formula 1 cars but also an outing for those track only, non competition wonders that are the Ferrari 599XX. Like the FXX program but with the engine in front, the latest toy from Maranello was driven, among others by Felipe Massa who was dutifully "enthusiastic" about the experience.

Tip for Ferrari's media department: 599xx, cool, jazz flute...not cool!




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Video: Alonso and Massa head to head on ice.

Every year Ferrari organizes a couple of days in Madonna di Campiglio to introduce drivers to the press and do photo ops. It always ends with a Fiat product on ice show followed by the highlight, ice karts.

This year Grandpa Schumi was otherwise engaged but it looks like it was an entertaining show none the less. Nice inside pass on Massa there Fernando... everyone is all smiles now but I wonder if it was Felipe who then spun Alonso out. It's going to be tricky this year for Ferrari.

In the end it looks like it was Nicky Hayden who "won" the race, last year it was Stoner, no wonder Ferrari keeps dreaming of Rossi!





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Schumacher wins again, shows Brazilian kids how it's done.

Interesting no, the Schumacher saga? Does anyone believe that, if he found a way, he would not return to racing?

Grandpa Schumi, beat a bunch of Brazil's best at Felipe Massa's annual invitational kart race in Florianopolis yesterday.

Open Florianopolis Picture Gallery


(globo.com)


1 - Michael Schumacher (GER)
2 - Vitantonio Liuzzi (ITA)
3 - Felipe Massa
4 -Lucas di Grassi
5 - Vitor Meira
6 - Rubens Barrichello
7 - Tony Kanaan
8 - Antonio Pizzonia
9 - Nelsinho Piquet
10 - Duda Pamplona
11 - Ricardo Zonta
12 - Tarso Marques
13 - Enrique Bernoldi
15 - João Paulo de Oliveira
16 - Popó Bueno
17 - Luciano Burti
18 - Felipe Giaffone
19 - Bia Figueiredo
20 - Eduardo Berlanda
21 - Xandinho Negrão
22 - Marcos Gomes
23 - Raphael Matos
24 - Christian Fittipaldi
25 - Max Wilson

What's More Shameful...

Fernando Alonso's sweater or Luca Di Montezemolo getting the California he was driving with Massa and Alonso in the back stuck in a gravel trap?




The inevitable videos are after the jump... No pelicans were involved or harmed.

Trouble brewing at Maranello for 2010.

I'm not sure what it is that compels Brazilian drivers to blurt out conspiracy theories when in Brazil. Felipe Massa accused his future team mate Fernando Alonso of being in on on the Singapore affair to a group of Brazilian journalists yesterday.

"I'm absolutely certain he was in on the game, it's only logical, I have no doubt" Massa is quoted " Briatore may may be gone, the engineer may be gone, but the theft from Singapore still stands"

Massa feels that had the Singapore sling not happened he would have been world champion. Like many conspiracy theories this is a belief built on a shaky premise: that the pit lane disaster, with Massa driving off with the fuel rig attached was a direct result of Renault's plan.

How would Massa have scored the race? Cancel all the results taking points away from everyone, even those who did not mess up their stops under the same pressure.

It's not logical and makes Massa sound like a Barrichello. Hell, why not throw in that Timo Glock let Hamilton through intentionally in Brazil last year? Going for the full monty, Massa also opined Hamilton should feel bad having won a World Championship because of a "cheat".

Maybe it was just one too many caipirinhas that night at the charruscaria.

Within hours Ferrari made Massa, whose contract is up at the end the 2010 season, issue a "clarifying statement" where there Brazilian backpedals somewhat.

"What I've said is the outcome of a hunch I've had and is not based on any concrete evidence,” Felipe said. “The FIA World Council announced that there was no indication that Fernando may have been informed of what had happened and I respect this outcome. Obviously I'm very disappointed about what transpired last year in Singapore: I have already said several times what I thought about it and now it's time to close that chapter and to look to the future. What is certain is that this episode will not marr in any way the relationship I'll have with Fernando when we will be teammates.”

Right...

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What is Ferrari's "Plan B"?

Because nobody believes it's Fisichella. As Felipe Massa prepares to test a 2007 car with GP2 tires, benchmarked in effect by Michael Schumacher who ran with the same setup in the weeks leading up to Valancia, several puzzle pieces in the driver's market have yet to fall into place, coincidence?

Behind all the public support there has to be a huge doubt at Ferrari regarding Massa. Looking at today's published pictures from his first day back at Maranello, you can't help but notice his left eye is not quite healed and during his kart test last week Felipe had to modify his helmet for it to fit over his wound. It may sound cruel but it is very unlikely Ferrari will be caught unprepared as it was after Hungary.

Would Ferrari "dump" Massa? Yes, of course it would. Though everyone has him as a given at Mclaren, Raikkonen has yet to announce and keeps repeating he has a contract for 2010. Kubica, though he is rumored to announce a Renault contract, possibly today, is still technically available. Schumacher is always lurking. You know people are just circling, waiting to see how Massa will do before making long term commitments.

Cruel? A few months back Andrea Corbetta wrote about how in 1976, as Niki Lauda lay between life and death in the Mannheim hospital after his fiery crash at the Nürburgring, there was a call from Maranello. "Enzo Ferrari wanted to speak with then Team Manager Daniele Audetto. The phone call was, not as one may think, to ask about Lauda's health but rather is was a series of instructions and directives for how Audetto was to go about inquiring on the availability of a top driver, a Fittipaldi or a Peterson to step in for Lauda. Only at the end of the phone call did Ferrari toss in a casual 'How's that guy doing'.

Cruelty? Lack of pity? The only way to survive in racing?

Lauda himself, a few years earlier had been one of those who, faced with Roger Williamson's burning car at Zandvoort, did not stop and kept racing. After the race when asked why he, and most other drivers except for David Purley, did not stop his answer was "we are paid to race, not to rescue people"

Massa may have the team on his side but only as long as the stopwatch agrees, So, good luck Felipe, get well soon but beware of F1 sharks in the pool!




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