News On F1 Forums - Talk Formula 1

JayVee wrote: Have a good day and good luck in Australia. Michael will need it especially with an old engine

U too have a nice day & yes need that luck for Michael with those bloody fragile Ferrari engines

JayVee wrote:On this point let me say that I now have a little bit of respect for Ferrari for not telling Massa to give way to Michael but yes had a problem occured to Massa towards the end of the race, I would have raised the TEAM ORDERS issue Kapel and it wouldn't have been just me but millions of people around the world. Hey didn't you notice the intense camera coverage of the Ferrari team towards the end of the race. I thought at one stage we won't see Fisichella crossing the line.

I'm not trying to jump in the middle of this, but I do have a comment that may resonate with others. I didn't rate Massa all that highly last year, but IMHO, he got the Ferrari drive because: he could be very quick, he would work for Ferrari cheap, Rubens was leaving, I think he is managed by Julian Jakobi who managed Rubens and Senna (I could be wrong on that), etc. Eddie Irvine out performed Schumacher a few times early in their partnership, but I would never say that Irvine was better [Having said that, if Ferrari had gotten behind Irvine in 1999, he may have won the championship that year!]. I'm not ready to say Massa has the measure of any other driver in Formula 1 (I feel the much criticized Jordan/Midland boys drove better last year.).

In the 80s, no one could beat Piquet and Prost until Mansell and Senna showed up (Mansell actually stepped up). Neither feared Prost and Piquet. It happens in every era. I'm reminded of Niki Lauda, Alan Jones, Gilles Villeneuve and Keke Rosberg. All seemingly came from nowhere and beat the best! I should also mention Stefan Bellof [if you don't know who he is, find out!]. He was nearly as good as Senna, but was much more like Gilles Villeneuve- brash, huge gonads, a "F"-it life style, a killer on the track, could beat the best out there in BS cars! I want to go on, but I won't.

We are definitely seeing a changing of the guard in F1, however. We should all agree on that.


Chris