Formula One ( F1 )

Where are all the Massa naysayers now...?

Late to the party I know, but he'll still be collecting his p45 come the end of the season, Ffs Maldonado has won a gp in a Williams this season, an event so unbelievable that his team set fire to the garage in shock. Massa was a good driver, he no longer has the bottle, no matter how much Alonso likes being the centre of attention his team needs another driver who can reliably score points so that they stand a chance in the constructors champ.

So if I ride around my living room what do I win?

You'd probably crash into something and not be able to ride back to the pits.

Alonso has to have someone shite as a team mate. Otherwise you get the Alonso & Hamilton situation all over again.

Maybe but it won't be Massa.

Then who's "good, but not good enough to out-qualify Fernando"?

Di Resta.

His manager would be better to advise him not to.

It'd be the nearest they'd have to an Italian driver.

Raikkonen and Alonso in the same team. Yes please. That would be magnificent.

Kimi would win in a fight.

^^^^ Possibly, Mercedes have already expressed interest publicly. Interesting article on the BBC website speculating about Webber, glory drive before he shuffles of to pipe and slippers in the bush, providing a wealth of experience to the team, used to being a number two, able to push his team mate but never really outshine them consistantly. Kimi would NOT go back to Ferrari.

Kimi would win in a fight.

Totally. I'd pay per view....

Kimi would beat him at most things.

Being cool for a start.

Can anyone else remember Kimi's remark to Brundle during his grid-walk in the then final race of Schumacher's career before his return - if not, it's helpfully below.

Martin Brundle: “Kimi Raikkonen doesn’t seem interested in the proceedings going on up there. Kimi, you missed the presentation by Pele.”
Kimi (nonchalantly): “Yeah.”
Martin: ”Will you get over it?”
Kimi: “Yeah. I was having a shit.”
Martin: “OK, thanks for that! Obviously you’ll have a nice light car on the grid, then.”

Live on the BBC. I like Raikkonen a lot - he's immediately shown up the Schumacher return for what it is.

More here.

Isn't Schumacher a bit older than Kimi anyway, and was away longer? Isn't it fair to factor that in as well? I'm not Schumacher fan, in fact I could barely abide him. But if one is to compare drivers and their ability, then there should be some balance.

What Schumacher achieved will never be achieved by another driver again.

^ you missed a probably out of that sentence.

The competition will never be technically so far behind Ross Brawn.

Never say never. It wasn't just Ross Brawn either, he needed a driver that outclassed the opposition the way Schumi did. There are other examples of periods in F1 where the combination of drivers and technical genius have combined to potentially dominate the sport (think Clark and Chapman) the problem was that until fairly recently the top drivers had a pretty short life or career span as a consequence of pushing the envelope with literally no safety net.

I'm a huge, huge fan of Clark and Chapman. But what they did was no where near what Schumacher and Brawn did. It may have been if Clark wasn't killed so soon, but he was, so we'll never know.

I'd agree with B&D that we'll never see another 7 time WDC.

Also, why should Webber be in a rush to hurry off to retire. He's still quick, he's got a very good car under him in a team with some fantastic staff. He's probably earning a fair bit of cash and doing what he loves. Would any of you retire if you were in that situation?

On the Massa point, I was happy and not completely surprised at his performance at Monaco. He's usually quite good there, I was surprised at his performance in Bahrain where he's usually quite good. As much as I hate to say it, I think he's past it, but may get good results this year, particularly at Brazil and Turkey. I won't be surprised if he keeps his seat next season as i'm not sure many drivers would want to jump into a Ferrari seat at the minute. The team are not doing very well, they'd have (IMO) the best driver on the grid to compete with, and the media don't take very well to people in a Ferrari not doing well. I think Perez would be the most likely replacement, but if I were him, i'd stay at Sauber. Also, i'm not sure any of the available drivers would do a better job than Massa, in fact i'm fairly sure none of them would.

Clear and concise - cheers Mick.

I think Lewis may be heading to Mercedes. No proof.........just a gut feeling.

I think you may well be correct.

I'm not too sure about that myself. McLaren have a 5 year £100 million deal that's there for him. I reckon it would take a lot to get him out of a McLaren. Now it's a lot plus £100 million.