Originally Posted by 968TurboS

And he gets a pass for it by you guys, nice!
He is, as per you, not "giving it all" and yet he gets no flack yet we here can all agree that Alonso is "giving it all" and has made some mistakes. In the end, who has more points by a wide margin?
Would you prefer Alonso "keeping it safe" and make no mistakes and scoring just as many points as Massa? I guess then we will never see how much Alonso is over achieving with that car. He has made mistakes and that is exactly what happens when you push the car beyond it's limit. He is under a lot of pressure to perform and is giving it 110%. I would take his 110% anyday over not giving it all.
We have to measure both drivers with the same yardstick. We can't give one a pass and shove it under the rug by saying that he is "not himself". If he is not himself, then as racing fans, we should be more upset with Massa than Alonso. We should all appreciate a 110% effort everytime by Alonso. Lewis had to do this last yr and on a few occasions, lost the car in the process. This is the exact same thing, Alonso is overidriving to make that Ferrari look more competitive than it actually is.
Regards.

Originally Posted by Pete

Raj,

Let's not forget he was 1 corner and 1 point away from winning the 2008 WDC. That seems to have been forgotten.

Originally Posted by JHowell37

What seems to be forgotten is that a$$hole Timo Glock hitting the brakes in the home stretch in Brazil to hand Lewser his WDC.

Originally Posted by JHowell37

What seems to be forgotten is that a$$hole Timo Glock hitting the brakes in the home stretch in Brazil to hand Lewser his WDC.

Originally Posted by Pete

Raj,

You need to look a little deeper. If you were to ask Alonso, he would say that having Massa as his teammate is EXACTLY what he wants. Is it any doubt that his contract parallels his in longevity?

Alonso doesn't want a strong teammate (See McLaren 2007). Aside from Hamilton, he has always had a flounder as a teammate. The Massa of last year (pre-accident) would have given Alonso trouble as he was beating Kimi for the 2nd year in a row. Let's not forget he was 1 corner and 1 point away from winning the 2008 WDC. That seems to have been forgotten.

In return, Ferrari gets two things. A. Good PR and Karma for allowing one of their drivers who almost was killed in their car a shot at getting back to form that is longer than 1 year. And B. They get back to the true #1 and #2 driver status they had during the Schumacher dominance. Let's face it, the way rules are written, to optimize the chances at a WDC, you need a clear #1.

Originally Posted by Pete

THANK YOU.

I was laughed at for coming to that conclusion by A. Wayne and Hamilton's #1 fan club president Wanna911, but I guess there are others out there that saw it the same way!

The situation should have been investigated at the very least.

Originally Posted by JHowell37

What seems to be forgotten is that a$$hole Timo Glock hitting the brakes in the home stretch in Brazil to hand Lewser his WDC.

Originally Posted by ltc

I particularly liked the photos of Timo driving a McLaren SLR in the off season .... coincidence I'm sure, probably a rental.

Originally Posted by A.Wayne

Ironic you don't have a problem with stoolmacher's 7 questionable championships, where there is proof , not conjecture as you have with glock ....

Yeah investigate glock ...................

Originally Posted by A.Wayne

Not true !

Massa has attacked when he could , in the beginning of the races, for some reason this changes by midrace he takes on a very pedestrian role. Funny that he attacks Alonso more than others and is very much in love with Schumacher. Every time he get's behind Schumacher he sits there...

Massa has not lost pace, he is still as fast as he was when he was beating KR, again he does seem not to be able to race the whole distance so physically he must be struggling and it is still 2 early to judge his comeback, I'm sure Ferrari took this into account when they resigned him ....

I wanna believe he will be a bigger force by year's end or next year...

Originally Posted by A.Wayne

...There is some truth to Massa's re-signing in what you say , but just to be clear on your position , are you saying Massa should not be extended the same 3 yr courtesy that was extended to Hakkinen after his accident. MH was outpaced by Coulthard for 3 yrs before he finally started winning, if not for RD patience and Mclarens ability to fix a broken chassis every other race MH would have been nothing but a footnote ...


Ahhh some Bias there Finny ! .....

Originally Posted by 968TurboS

Agreed FF. I doubt that if Massa's keeps performng the way he is, he will see the 3 full seasons of his current extension. I think they will can him after next yr at max.
Look at all the other front runners. Both drivers are on par and are hauling in points for their teams. With ferrari, it's mostly been Alonso doing the work. It's unfair to the team but unftortunately Ferrari had to do the "right thing" by resigning Massa.
Regards.

Originally Posted by enduro911

Thinking out lound here. This discussion of Massa vs Alonso has really brought to life how difficult it must be for anyone to return to F1 even after the shortest break. We've seen people as successful as Schumacher attempt it and not have it go very well, and we've seen Massa take a relatively limited amount of time off from racing and not be able to get his act together. I know that in Schumacher's case, he's been away for some time, the cars have changed, he's gotten older, etc, and I know that after such a close call, Massa may have every right to not be in the same mindset as he was a year and a half ago, but time flies and I think that when an F1 driver is thinking about calling it quits, that he really consider that this is truly it. I haven't given up completely on MS quite yet but if he can't pull it off, I doubt we're going to be see any Lauda comeback championships.