No points in Britain (Ferrari race review)

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A first-lap collision between their drivers and an avoidable penalty were just part of the reason why Ferrari failed to score in Silverstone. It took another dose of poor luck to turn a bad day into a disaster.

A wasted race leaves them in danger of falling out of touch with the championship leaders.

Felipe MassaFernando Alonso
Qualifying position73
Qualifying time comparison (Q3)1’31.172 (+0.746)1’30.426
Race position1514
Average race lap1’38.956 (+0.098)1’38.857
Laps52/5252/52
Pit stops23

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Felipe Massa

After the race Massa was cursing his luck:

I don’t know what to do, but I have to find some way of getting rid of the bad luck that is following me around! In the last few races, everything has happened to me.

Today my race was soon over, when I touched with Fernando and got a puncture which dropped me to the back of the pack.
Felipe Massa

But there were plenty of reasons why he should have been blaming himself. He was almost three-quarters of a second slower than his team mate in qualifying.

At the start, an over-optimistic lunge on his team mate could have put them both out. Massa was perhaps fortunate that the damage was limited to his own car rather than incurring the wrath of his team for taking out his team mate.

He pitted with a puncture at the end of lap one, leaving him almost last. Massa quickly dispensed with the drivers from the new teams but spent several laps stuck behind Sebastien Buemi. He finally passed the Toro Rosso after the restart.

Sebastian Vettel then came by him with little difficulty at Club, after which Massa’s progress halted.

On lap 39 he spun at the exit of Woodcote, which was either the cause or consequence of a puncture. He pitted again and went on to finish 15th, out of the points for the third race in a row.

Compare Felipe Massa’s form against his team mate in 2010

Fernando Alonso

Qualified third but fell to fifth having made a slow start, saying afterwards “we had some problems with the clutch”.

He ran in close company with Robert Kubica and Nico Rosberg and pitted early in an effort to get ahead of them. It didn’t work, and he found himself stuck behind Kubica.

The subsequent incident which led to him getting a drive-through penalty has been covered in detail in an earlier article. Suffice to say the penalty would have been avoided had Alonso simply let Kubica past.

Alonso got ahead of Sebastien Buemi after the restart and then began a lengthy tussle with Vitantonio Liuzzi. At one point he dived down the inside of the Force India at Village, only to run wide and lose the position.

He finally got ahead with three laps to go – but the pair made contact while side-by-side and Alonso suffered a puncture, ending any chance of a finish in the points.

Compare Fernando Alonso’s form against his team mate in 2010

2010 British Grand Prix

    Browse all 2010 British Grand Prix articles

    Image (C) Ferrari spa

    Author information

    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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    45 comments on “No points in Britain (Ferrari race review)”

    1. I hope we can see a weekend without problems as they looked pretty strong.
      I felt sorry for Alonso when he got his penalty, but a clever guy like him must have taken the safe route and let Kubica past immediatly. The risk was too high not to let him past.

    2. Alonso only really has himself to blame. It was too much of a risk to not give the place back – when have the stewards ever accepted “he pushed me off” as a reason for gaining an advantage?

      The irony here is that after the Spa 2008 incident, Alonso said that Hamilton should have let Raikkonen back through and waited another lap to overtake. What’s good for the goose…

      1. Curious development: seems Whiting told Ferrari three times that Alonso should give the place back, including immediately after the incident ( http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85258 ) and that failure to do so would involve the stewards. But…

        “Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said the team did not ask Alonso to let Kubica through because it did not feel the Spaniard has gained an advantage.”

        Daft or what?

    3. This was terrible for Ferrari – the second best car at the track and nothing to show for it. Worse is, nobody’s surprised anymore.

      1. Indeed. Are ferrari in danger of regressing to their 80s and 90s form of anonymity, until a new set of brawns/todts/byrnes/schumachers arrives to stop the rot again?

        1. They are much too loud for that…

    4. There’s an Alonso rant coming very soon I feel
      quite rightly a peanlty,he cut the corner and didn’t let Robert back through so justice was done
      Massa is just a pretty average driver now

    5. Liuzzi’s move was poor…

      but Nando’s race was already over so…

    6. i sometimes think that cutting the curb is a fine line between crashing and not, when you look at it there was no room for Alonso to stay on track.
      i realize it was set in concrete when Lewis made the pass on Kimi, which i still believe he had no where to go either.

      so what happens if Alonso holds his line stays on track and Kubica crashes into him? who is to blame then?

      im not a Alonso fan but thought he was in front and could have taken the corner if Kubica had given him the room to do so.

      1. The mistake was not going over the curbs, cutting the corner. Alonso should have let Kubica past again, waited a couple of corners and get past again (or wait another 3 laps to see Kubica fall out, but he couldn’t know that up front).

        1. The mistake was getting rid of Kimi for Alonso. If he hadn’t had such a bad start he and Massa would never have made contact and if he would have just let Robert past Ferrari could have had both drivers in the points. Morons.

    7. I don’t understand why Alonso pitted immediately after the safety car came in. He should have waited 3 laps; by then he’d get some advantage and would not have lost so many places.

      1. Indeed, the field would have spread, like it did when Mclaren had to deal with a penalty 2 weeks ago.

      2. Yeah, why didn’t he do that? Are Ferrari now really poor on wise strategies?

        1. On second thought, Alonso got the drive-through on Lap 28, the Safety Car came out on Lap 29 and went back in at the end of Lap 30, and Alonso came in at Lap 31. So the penalty was served on the 3rd lap since its isuue. Correct me if I’m wrong.

          1. The SC laps don’t count towards that the 3 laps to serve it. I think Alonso should have got into the pits immediately (he had a chance just at the end of that lap 28). Then he would have had a good chance of battling back from the restart, probably fighting for 7-10th place.

            1. Ok, if the SC laps don’t count towards the 3 lap bracket, Ferrari could have either brought in Alonso at the end of Lap 28 or waited for the field to spread after the SC period.

              If that’s the case, very poor strategy from a team that’s been around for 60 years in F1.

      3. They was the field was bunched up after the safety car there was no point delaying it.

        1. I had the same thought as PT though, I thought it was quite indecisive of Ferrari not to pull him in at the end of lap 28. If I remember correctly, there was indication that the SC was going to come out, but to announcement had been made yet when Alonso came past the pit lane entry. If they’d pulled him in then, it would have worked out a lot better for him.

          Can you confirm where Alonso was on the track when the SC announcement was made? It was hard to tell with the delay on the radio communication to Alonso from the pitwall on TV.

        2. Keith, I read a comment on some forum to the effect that the Ferrari garage actually told Alonso to give the place back (while he still could) but he refused to do so. Can’t find the post again to query the source! Do you know if this is true?

          1. I thought it was that the stewards immediately told Ferrari to tell Alonso to hand the place back? But the team didn’t for whatever reason (i.e probably discussing with stewards since they thought it wasn’t illegal like we knew of).
            Either way it makes it worse.

    8. Best moment of the race for me was Massa spinning because he was obviously under pressure as Alonso was coming up fast behind and would easily pass him.

      Even after getting a puncture, to add to his drive through penalty, Alonso finished the race ahead of Massa.

      When are Ferrari going to wake up and dump Massa?

      1. It’s not just Massa they need to dump. Perhaps Alonso too, if he keeps committing mistakes and displays a hot-headed attituide on top of that.

        1. Ferrari has got 2 of the best drivers in the field now, they need to dump Stefano Domenicali he clearly doesnt have what it takes, Felipe already lost a championship because of hes poor strategy decisions and it hasnt been different this year with Alonso. They should put Flavio Briatore in his place

          1. As a Ferrari fan, I simply wouldn’t want Flavio, not after Singapore 2008.

      2. The spin may well have been caused by a second puncture.

      3. “obviously under pressure as Alonso was coming up fast behind and would easily pass him.”

        Yeah, because Alonso’s never been stuck behind Massa before.

        1. hahaha good point lol, Felipe is clearly suffring from tire heating problems witch is undergoing his performance, once that’s done he is seriously going to kick some ass lol as Schumacher said he is a powerful driver. i say just wait he still might fight 4 d title this year. However if his driving stile is not serving 4 heating d tire maybe it’s time 2 work out on a different stile if he still wants 2 fight 4 the title this year.

    9. Ferrari clearly need new drivers!!

      1. Charles Carroll
        12th July 2010, 4:51

        Perhaps after this weekend, Sebastian Vettel and Kamui Kobayashi.

        Wouldn’t that be something?

        1. Kubica & Kamui… would be my pick…

          1. Charles Carroll
            12th July 2010, 5:07

            That would be pretty interesting as well!

            But on the whole, Fernando is very talented, and Massa was not a slouch prior to his injury, so I understand why they thought this line up would be so successful. They still can be, but things are looking dismal right now.

            1. normally ferrari would tell their drivers what to say/do… but it seems post santander deal alonso pretty much owns the team… he has made too many stupid things on track this season… he is very talented, but he has got too much stuff going in his head..

      2. Actually what Ferrari needs is completely new organization of the team and some decent staff members. Same “average driver” Massa was fighting for WDC not so long ago, same goes for Alonso in McLaren. It’s not about the drivers, it’s the team.

    10. After the crash last year Massa isn’t the same. We want Robert Kubica! Marco from Modena

    11. To say that I am disappointed in Fernando’s performance is an understatement. I think he hasn’t lost much of his ability to driver a car, but instead, has lost all the mental toughness and composure that made him a two time WDC.

      Ferrari dont need to focus all their efforts on developing the car, but they should invest some resources in getting the best shrink money can buy. Fernando has way too much going on in his head, and that has been responsible for some of his performances so far. A shrink would definitely help him much more than some aerodynamic downforce.

    12. What was over-optimistic about his pass over Alonso? The Spanish went wide, Massa made a perfet move on the inside and Alonso threw his car on Massa’s. Or perhaps trying to overtake Alonso is always over-optimistic because he will make sure it will come to grief.

      1. I agree 100%. Massa certainly doesn’t look the same pilot than in the first half of 2009, but Alonso’s season is ridiculous.

    13. I think we are seeing a team where the drivers personalities are being allowed to take over from any real sense of strategy or direction from the rest of the team.
      Why is Alonso being allowed to get so angry during the race? Everyone can see that onc he’s upset, he loses any racecraft he has (and he has a lot!). Once he said ‘no more radio’, that was the end of his race.
      Massa on the other hand needs to stop sulking and show what he can do, as again, we have seen moments of brilliance from him in the past, but nobody has made him put all together in this season yet.
      I don’t think its necessarily new drivers that Ferrari need, but better control of them and a firm direction to go in.
      **Actually, I think I predicted this at the start of the season….. :-)**

    14. Charles Carroll
      12th July 2010, 14:18

      The more I read about Luca di Montezemolo, particularly his tirades against the new teams and the current rules, the more I believe he and the other management staff are the root of their problems.

      Let us be frank. Ferrari has the resources to be better than McLaren and Red Bull combined. They have the drivers to win titles consistently. I believe their front office is what is lacking.

      1. Don’t you think Luca has been unusually quiet?

        1. Charles Carroll
          13th July 2010, 5:20

          Perhaps he was told to be quiet!

    15. Hi Keith,

      First of all, let me congratulate you on your excellent work. I just love your website, and keep reading it daily for great news coverage and articles.

      However, let me disagree on your take on Massa. He passed Alonso on Becketts, even though Alonso didn’t leave him enough room. Alonso then hit him again from behind at Stowe, and that’s when his tire was punctured(according to his interview).

      I feel that too often he gets unfavourable remarks, and in my opinion, it’s unjustifyable. In China, for example, Alonso “elbowed” him for position but in Silverstone, Massa’s move was over-optimistic. This is just one example, there are a few others. For some reason he’s always to blame whenever there’s contact with another driver. I personally don’t agree.

    16. Right now, Ferrari news, apart from when they are ranting or blowing smoke, are just about as interesting as reading about HRT or VR. It really can’t get any worse for a team with such a potential. Frankly speaking they seem to be losing the plot in an unbelievable way.

      They just have to let go of their recent lousy luck and also persecution mentality and just add some spring to their steps. I believe they have the second fastest car on the grid.

      Hamilton and Button are taking a slightly inferior car to great places. Ferrari need to up their game.

    17. A day to forget for the Ferrari team.
      I won’t say that Massa is having bad luck he is simply not in the right place in the right time.
      Alonso driving in the closing stage of the race was quite scary in deed, he drove his heart out even asking his pit crew to stop talking with him.
      All the Ferrari pit stop that I saw in TV were shambolic.

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