Turkish Grand Prix: Ferrari misses the podium once again!
Ferrari has returned from the Turkish Grand Prix in a mellow mood after the team ran in its 800th Formula One race. A rather disappointing performance in Turkey has made the mood a little sombre for the most renowned motorsport company of the world. It is the same team that left the Monaco Grand Prix by giving excuses to address their performance issues after the disappointing season.
Felipe Massa ended at the seventh position while Fernando Alonso could only grab the eighth spot at the Istanbul Park Track on Sunday. The Italian driving duo was not been able to secure a podium position for the second straight race.
Ferrari is not having the best days of their life when it comes to winning and getting the poles at Formula One racing. The Red Bulls have proved to be better than most of the racing teams in the current season. The highly paid Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa of the Ferrari need give their team and the supporters something to cheer for. It is high time that the drivers bag a few points for Ferrari in order to achieve something at the end of the final championship.
Felipe Massa, after spending three years with Sauber was picked up by the Ferrari team which for him was an opportunity to show his skills and capabilities as a great driver. He was also glad to come into a team was working under the shadows of the legendary Michael Schumacher. The move proved to be a blessing for his career. In a short span, Massa emerged as one of the most threatening F1 drivers on the circuit. In the 2008 Formula One world championship, Massa let the championship title slip from his hands during the final moments of the season. He lost by one point to Louis Hamilton at the Brazilian Grand Prix on the final lap. In the last F1 season, Massa had won the pole position on six different occasions during the year.
One of the greatest comebacks of Formula One history was made by Massa, as he came out roaring at a time when it seemed that he was not even going to walk ever again. After meeting a severe accident in last season at Hungary, Massa was sure that he would never sit in a F1 car ever again. However, Massa proved everyone wrong. He has finished each race in the current season by coming into the top ten positions and to surprise even further, he scored a runner-up slot at the beginning of the season in Bahrain.
Massa had also been able to have some good starting positions as he stood second on the grid in Bahrain. He followed that performance with a fifth place finish at the Australian Grand Prix. At the Grand Prix in Monaco, he started off at the fourth place. All together, Massa won fifteen pole positions in F1 racing and as many as twelve of these were between the year 2007 and 2008.
Ferrari’s second driver, Fernando Alonso, has only one objective in his mind – to follow the forceful Red Bull duo of Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel till the end. He is the man who knows how to get the best out of a car. During the 2005/06 season, Alonso had shined on the track as a gem, as he became the youngest driver to win the F1 world title for two consecutive years at the age of twenty five. However, his stars did not shine on him after the 2007 season as Massa only just one pole in the season. Much of fault goes to the Renault team and its weaknesses in preparing a proper car. Alonso knew what he had to do after an unsatisfactory 2009, as he finished on the ninth spot in the annual standings. Massa decided to move on and signed with Ferrari as the first choice driver. However, Massa did what he could for team Ferrari with solid performances in the coming seasons.
At the Turkish Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton gave McLaren a 1-2 lead over Jenson Button, while Mark Webber stood third overall for the Red Bull team. In the drivers' standings, Alonso, with his seventy nine points, came to the fourth slot after Webber's ninety three. Meanwhile, Massa on the other hand has a total of sixty seven points.
Nevertheless, Ferrari has stopped working on improving last year's car so that the team can focus on the 2011 season. They have high hopes and spirits for the next season as far as their cars are concerned and probably, the same goes for their drivers. Over this season, Ferrari has taken a lot of advantages of the mistakes made by other teams and drivers. This is the main reason why Ferrari remains in the fight to win the championship title. But as they say, cheating can never lead to consistent glory. This is not a strategy that could go a long way in making Ferrari a force to reckon with in Formula One racing. The Red Bull team will not be crashing into each other in every race. It is high time that Ferrari comes up with a consistent strategy to win the F 1 season.
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