Felipe Massa wants to be on the top
Ferrari driver Felipe Massa made it clear that he does not want to play a supporting role to Fernando Alonso’s title chase at Ferrari after the end of this season.
Mass recently admitted that he does not have a chance of winning the championship this year and Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo is hoping that he will get to see “a strong Massa who will shave points off the rivals”, and therefore help his teammate
ensure the title for his team. However, Massa insists that he will be ready to fight for the title again next year after he gets a solution for his current problem with the tyres.
"For sure I am not Ferrari's second Rubens Barrichello. If that happens, I will stop driving. I'm not going to go racing to be eligible for second place”, he told
Sport Bild magazine.
This was quite a bold and offensive statement for Rubens but everyone is aware that Rubens knows what the media and everyone thinks about his time in Ferrari and he himself was always disappointed of what he had to do when he drove alongside Michael Schumacher.
Michael Schumacher has always been known as the “credit taker” in this case as he was openly given preference over his teammates in Ferrari and that is not what Formula 1 is about. Each driver should be given a chance to participate at his best and earn the
credit for it instead of leading the whole race before braking for Michael to take the points and glory.
Felipe Massa is afraid that he might be put in a similar situation and that would not be good for the Brazilian as he still has a long way to go and he definitely does not want to settle for “Number 2” all his life.
“Fernando is very good, definitely. However, he is not better than my other teammates. It is just myself not being as good as usual. I have had big problems with the tyres. For my driving style, even the soft tyres are too hard”, he added.
In addition, Felipe is sure that many other drivers are facing the same problem and this is problem is quite understandable. He thinks that Michael has definitely not forgotten how to drive a Formula 1 car.
He is aware of his role at the team for the remaining four races but is naturally not happy about it. Every driver joins a team and the Formula 1 hoping that he will not be neglected by the sport. Formula 1 is a sport that should be non-biased and the drivers
are given a chance until the very end of the season. It was because of Michael Schumacher that the FIA had to enforce a rule against team orders and therefore, the officials monitor the team radios to ensure a fair race.
There were many rumours stating that Felipe Massa might be replaced for the 2011 season and reports suggest that Robert Kubica might replace him. The Formula 1 is at a very crucial turn currently, and if any of the top five drivers win the title by unfair
means, the crowd will not be happy and Fernando Alonso, as much as the fans like him, will not appreciate such a title win.
“If I am in front of the other drivers, but behind Fernando so that I can take away points from his rivals, that is of course positive for Fernando. That's what I'll try to do”, he said.
Felipe Massa vows to take as many points as he can in order to help his teammate win the title and he will do anything he can in his power to ensure Fernando’s title. However, Felipe will have to wait until next year if he wants to chase the title as he
is currently way behind the top 5 and is the best of the rest at least.
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