Revitalised Massa poised to give Ferrari a winning problem
If Kimi Raikkonen is the grumpiest driver in Formula One, Lewis Hamilton the naturally quickest and Jenson Button the English charmer, then the most resilient is Felipe Massa.
And what if the Brazilian who came within a whisker of winning the world title in 2008 and then of losing his life in 2009 proves this year that he is once again championship material, back to his best after three ho- hum seasons?
How will his team, Ferrari, react? If Massa’s quick pace in the first t wo races continues this weekend at the Chinese Grand Prix and beyond, will he be allowed to take Ferrari’s No 1 spot from its star, t wo- time world champion Fernando Alonso?
In 11 seasons and 200 grand prix, no teammate of Alonso’s has outqualified him in five consecutive races. Massa would become the first if he qualifies quicker than Alonso this weekend in Shanghai, having also gone faster than the Spaniard in Australia and Malaysia and in the final two races last season, in the United States and Brazil.
To which one could legitimately respond: ‘‘ So what?’’ Qualifying well loses its importance if not followed by a strong drive and points in the race tomorrow.
Still, Massa’s recent qualifying performances and having four points more than Alonso going into the third of 19 races this season suggest he is back on form.
‘‘ He was very confident from the end of last year, because the results he had in the last two grand prix made him very, very confident. He knew he would start 2013 very, very strong,’’ said Dino Altmann, the chief medical officer at Massa’s home race, the Brazilian Grand Prix, and his family doctor.
Altmann said he exchanged messages with Massa after he placed fourth in Australia and fifth in Malaysia and last saw him this year before pre- season testing.
‘‘ He told me the car this year i s really very friendly to him and he’s very happy with all the developments,’’ Altmann said.
‘‘ Last year, he began the year working psychologically to become stronger and the result came in the middle of the year. So from then on we could see Felipe coming to his best at the end of the year and I think that changed everything and he’s now very, very confident. If you talk to him, you can really remark that it’s a different Felipe than he was last year or the previous years.’’
Two events, in particular, mark out Massa as a survivor. The first was the 2009 crash, when a heavy spring came off a car in front of him during qualifying at the Hungarian Grand Prix and thumped into Massa’s helmet, concussing him and fracturing his skull.
The second was at the German Grand Prix in 2010. Massa, racing on the first anniversary of the crash, looked like he could win when Ferrari none- too- subtly suggested he should shove over and let through Alonso, who took the victory.
The nudge- nudge, wink- wink radio message to Massa from race engineer Rob Smedley, ‘‘ Fernando is faster than you’’, has since become a T- shirt and a ringtone for mobile phones. Ferrari was fined $ 100,000 for orchestrating the pass.
‘‘ He was devastated with that,’’ said Altmann. ‘‘ From Hockenheim on, I think his confidence was very, very poor, because at that time he thought he was in the same level as Fernando Alonso on the team, and that was the point where he really understood he was the second driver.
‘‘ From then on his lack of confidence, I think, was the big issue for his driving.’’
Massa hasn’t won since the Brazilian Grand Prix in 2008. That was the race when it seemed for a few moments that he had done just enough to win the world championship until Hamilton made up a place on the last corner of the last lap to take the title in the most dramatic fashion, by a single point ahead of Massa.
That was also the last year Ferrari won the constructors’ title. To win it back, the team needs Massa to steadily harvest points with Alonso.