What if Massa had won at Hockenheim?
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First things first, this isn’t a team order debate post. That’s been done to death and i’d prefer to not have any debate about it being right or wrong on this post.
What i want to know is that if Massa had won at Hockenheim would there still be so much criticism about his past race/season performance from fans and haters alike. If he had won, would people still be saying that he has had a lacklustre season?
Pre-Germany: was his performance lacklustre? Personally i dont think so. Was it as good as Alonso’s, sometimes yes, sometimes no.
Post-Germany: this is where, in my view, the criticism started and where his performances reflected the drop in confidence and morale which resulted from Germany. However, i still dont think he performed that badly. A decent haul of points in Spa when his teammate crashed out. A podium in Italy when his team mate won. It was only after Singapore and Suzuka when the criticism really started about his ‘terrible’ season. Singapore he qualified last and still finished 8th. In monaco, Alonso started last and finished 6th (Alonso started last due a driver error, Felipe started last due to a mechanical problem). Not much of a difference on similar tracks. Suzuka was probably his worse performance and naturally would generate warranted criticism. Korea was a quite race for Felipe but he was almost error free and came in third.
Was his performances after Germany as good as Alonso’s? No, that is reflected quite clearly in the standings, but was it lacklustre and terrible? Barring Japan, no.
So i would like to hear your opinions, if Massa had won in Germany would people still be so critical of him??
Probably.
I think had he won in Germany and got the massive confidence boost, at the most he would only be finishing 1-2 places higher than he has been. He’d still be well behind Alonso and people would be focusing on that.
We will never know if a Germany win would give him a confidence boost enough to suddenly be performing well. I really do not think his lack of motivation is the reason for his poor results. I think he just wasn’t performing too well due to the tyre and car problems he has had. I thought his performances were pretty poor for most of this season, and although you justify his decent haul of points in Spa, I think it was just an average performance, considering that there were only 3 of the top 6 cars left in that race. To answer your question – NO. A Germany win wouldn’t have changed anything for Felipe.
If there were no team orders, there’d still be Alonso much faster behind Massa, and possibly taking the win by overtaking. And even if Massa would have won, it wouldn’t have been the most deserved victory, as Alonso was clearly faster on harder compound.
Not to forget: had Massa won, he’d be 14 points closer to Alonso than he really is, not 7 as some might think.
“And even if Massa would have won, it wouldn’t have been the most deserved victory, as Alonso was clearly faster on harder compound. “
I disagree. Massa was quicker than Kimi at Spain in 08 but Kimi fully deserved that victory because he couldn’t overtake much like Alo and Schu at Imola 05 and vice versa the year after. If Massa had won and kept a much quicker Fernando behind them when they are free to race then it would be a fully deserved win by him but a big shame for Fernando who was so quick all weekend.
I think Massa would be viewed better with a win under his belt. There wouldn’t be the talk of him being shafted which would give him a better image. Plus a win exactly a year after his accident would give the impression that Felipe really is back and people would look at him more fondly. At the end of the day though, it wouldn’t do that much as Alonso has thoroughly had the beating of him this year.
#Enigma. What a world of difference would it make to have Massa 14 points closer to Alonso. I’m sure Hockenheim is the only reason Alonso is leading the championship right now, and Felipe is over a 100 points behind.
Sorry i was just being fussy and read it wrong! :P:)
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