How Ferrari can use Massa to help Raikkonen

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Felipe Massa will start tomorrow’s Brazilian Grand Prix from pole position, which gives Ferrari options on how to use the Brazilian to help Kimi Raikkonen win the championship.

After qualifying Massa said, “hopefully I can go to the victory.” But he surely know this is only likely as long as Raikkonen looks unable to take the title.

So what will Ferrari do in tomorrow’s title-deciding Brazilian Grand Prix?

The start

The run to the first corner will be critical. Although Ferrari appear to have a less than optimal qualifying result – Massa first, Raikkonen third – it could easily work to their advantage. Both their cars will start on the cleaner racing line, and we have seen the benefit that provides many times this year.

The top four lined up in the same order at the Turkish Grand Prix, with the Ferraris on the favourable side of the grid. The result was that by the end of the first lap Massa led Raikkonen with Hamilton down to third, and Alonso sixth behind the two BMWs.

At Interlagos the first corners bend left, right, then a long sweep left, Hamilton therefore may be happy to stay on his side of the grid and hope to protect the inside from Raikkonen. But he may have to settle for just keeping Alonso behind him as the Ferraris sprint ahead.

The hare

If Ferrari take up first and second in the opening stages, which seems likely, they have two clear options. They could send Massa off as the ‘hare’, sprinting away from the field.

But for Raikkonen to win he needs Hamilton to finish sixth or lower, so Massa needs to either delay the McLarens (perhaps via an early pit stop that gives the lead to Raikkonen but puts Massa ahead of the McLarens) or force them to exhaust their tyres. The latter seems a likely candidate for success, as McLaren are struggling to make the softer compounds last.

The tortoise

Alternatively if Ferrari may try to slow the McLarens and give other cars the chance to pass them, if they feel they can do it without falling foul of the rules that ban team orders.

As cars lower down the top ten tend to carry more fuel into the final part of qualifying, slowing McLaren down early in the race could hand the Red Bulls and BMWs an advantage.

Ferrari used these tactics at Suzuka in 1997, when Eddie Irvine took the lead from Jacques Villeneuve, and held him up allowing Michael Schumacher to close in.

But that was before the ban on team orders, and whatever Ferrari may choose to do tomorrow will require a little more subtlety.

Kamikaze

Ferrari surely wouldn’t go so far as to actually shunt Hamilton out of the race. If Massa and Hamilton both went out Raikkonen would probably only end up losing the title to Alonso anyway.

But Massa isn’t going to give Hamilton or Alonso any room if they end up dicing together…

Photo: Ferrari Media

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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4 comments on “How Ferrari can use Massa to help Raikkonen”

  1. But any of these plans will be ensuring Massa doesn’t have an equal chance to win the race. And the FIA are firmly against that now. All drivers must be given an equal chance by their teams. It’s a new FIAt rule.

  2. But for Raikkonen to win he needs Hamilton to finish sixth or lower, so Massa needs to either delay the McLarens (perhaps via an early pit stop that gives the lead to Raikkonen but puts Massa ahead of the McLarens) or force them to exhaust their tyres. The latter seems a likely candidate for success, as McLaren are struggling to make the softer compounds last.

    – My comment: while tyre exhaustion is a very good idea, it has a downside: Lewis doesn’t need to beat Kimi later. He only needs to be a certain number of places behind him. So they’re going to have to do something else which is, as you mentioned, probably Massa running super-light and pitting early.

  3. Should he follow team orders? He can win this race all on his own. I guess we see if he is a team player or not.

  4. Massa will hardly run light whilst holding himself up and the Mclarens up, he’d finish at most fourth if nothing major happened. It’s his home track, I think it’s more likely he’ll sail off into the distance like last year, and only let Kimi through if the championship can be won that way. I could be wrong however.

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