Ferrari: Massa better than Hamilton

Eurosport - Sat, 20 Dec 00:09:00 2008

Ferrari would not swap Brazilian driver Felipe Massa for McLaren's Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton, president Luca di Montezemolo has said.

FORMULA 1 Lewis Hamilton and Felipe Massa 2008 - 0

Hamilton, 23, who became the youngest world title-winner after he edged Massa by snatching fifth place on the final bend of November's season-ending Brazilian Grand Prix, said last week that he would never leave McLaren.

"Hamilton is a great driver, capable of coming close to the world title in his first year in Formula One and winning it in the second," Montezemolo told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "But with all respect, I wouldn't swap him for Felipe Massa.

"If Massa did not win it this year, we (the team) were to blame. It would have been normal for him to win. He didn't manage to because of our mistakes."

Montezemolo added that there would have been an exodus from F1 if proposals for a standard engine had been approved.

The plan was not included in cost-cutting measures approved last week to help the sport after the global economic crisis led to Honda's withdrawal.

"If the standard engine had gone through for all teams, at least four or five carmakers would have abandoned (F1)," he said. "I mean four or five plus Ferrari, i.e. all of them."

Reuters

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  1. U HAVE 2 GET USE 2 IT COZ McLAREN ROCKS WITH HAMILTON U­ @#$% CHEATS @#$%(FE)RRARI FANS.ALL THESE YEARS F1 WERE­ PUSHING @#$%(FE)RRARI. MCLAREN 4­ LIFEEEEEEEEE DIRTY SHITRRARI FAN FAGGOTS

    From Atko, on Tue 23 Dec 2:35PM
  2. you are a very wise man touronroute, Glock slowed on­ purpose to let LH past, that's the opinion of most­ F1 fans.....

    From DC, on Mon 22 Dec 9:22PM
  3. Well f1junky (my friend, cough !) that's their­ problem really isn't it? I'm just thrilled­ that we have a GB champion once again with so much­ potential.

    From m.e.jenner, on Mon 22 Dec 6:50PM
  4. Lewis is a smashing lad just unfortunate some people­ hate him for no reason!

    From f1junky1000, on Mon 22 Dec 6:35PM
  5. Saw Lewis being interviewed on ITV's summing up of­ 2008 season. What a smashing lad he is - polite,­ charming, confident and humorous and so much more­ mature than last year when the headlights of his­ amazing rookie year almost blinded him. Let's hope­ for a healthy F1 for many more years to come so that we­ can follow him and all the other up-and-coming­ youngsters racing each other.

    From m.e.jenner, on Mon 22 Dec 11:06AM
  6. Scottish C. reading article (553) with great interest.­ I would like to put three of your quotes in grave­ doubt. Specially De la Rosa as you know, is now in­ amalgamation.

    From f1junky1000, on Mon 22 Dec 7:38AM
  7. Good morning Ferrari boys and girls. Once again it­ looks like the sour taste of losing is still in your­ mouths. I'll take you back a few years when (yes)­ the greatest driver we have ever seen did just that and­ smash into other drivers so he could be crowned world­ champ. The only difference is that Schue actually did­ it on purpose (as he has admitted it since). With­ regard to McClaren stealing info from Ferrari,­ you'll probably hear in a year or two that the­ whole saga was instigated from Ferrari to get McClaren­ kicked out and that Ferrari paid their employee huge­ sums to do it.

    Anyway, have a nice Christmas
    this is­ from rowhedge 100 I feel it needs repeating to those­ ferrari sad fans RAY T
    it needs repeating again and­ again just to get it through there thick sculls

    As­ Ferrari fans have the memory span of a goldfish,(approx­ 2 mins)I shall repeat what Rowhedge 100 & Ray T has­ said so that you will get it through your thick­ skulls.

    BTW: Lewis Hamilton is F1 champion­ 2008...Merry Christmas

    From Tonka, on Mon 22 Dec 6:36AM
  8. i must admit after reading some of these posts Touron­ does have a point.
    Why did glok slow down so much in­ the last lap..
    Why was glok driving on the wet side of­ the track in the last few remaining bends allowing­ hamilton to take the inside DRY line to victory.­
    HHHmmmmmm.....seems a little suspicious to me...Can­ anyone enlighten me as to why Glok was on wet side of­ track in last few bends, considering he had slicks on­ and all
    Whats it all about..
    Why cant this question­ be answered especially by mclaren fans and especially­ by Doughnut Ray $%^&...
    Why has the evidence­ ie..the last lap of the brazilian GB especially the­ last few corners been removed from You Tube..
    Why do­ Mclaren fans keep running away from this question and­ the Truth..
    people keep saying wait till jeremey­ clarkson show..all will be revealed...
    i mean­ considering glok was on slick tyres why was he driving­ right in the wet line of the track on the last few­ corners..everyone keeps saying they are surprised he­ finished at all considering the conditions...Various­ posts state it was like an ice rink...
    So why was Glok­ driving in the WET on SLICKS on the WET LINE NOT/ THE­ DRY LINE on the last few bends....please tell im­ waiting and have been all Day and probably will be for­ a long time yet.­
    SHUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY­
    77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777­
    TIMESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS­
    WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD­
    CHAMPIONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
    LOVE­ ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT­
    RAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
    THIS­ RECORD WILL NEVER BE MATCHED!!!!!!!!!!!
    ps...for the­ record any driver who won the title this year was going­ to inherit a phoney crown After the season weve­ had,,,HOLD YOUR HEADS IN SHAME MCLAREN!!!

    From , on Sun 21 Dec 11:23PM
  9. NO NEED TO APLOGISE YOU ANSWERED NOTHING AGAIN,, GLOK­ MORE THAN ALLOWED HAMILTON TO PASS IN THE DRY INSIDE­ LINE DIDNT HE,, ITS NOT EVEN OPEN TO QUESTION REALLY IS­ IT..
    I TAKE IT YOU WATCHED THE RACE,,TRULIS TIME IS­ IRRELEVANT,, ITS PLAIN TO SEE CAN YOU HONESTLY SAY TO­ ME THAT GLOK WAS REALLY FIGHTING FOR HES PLACE WHEN­ HAMILTON PASSED,
    REALLY PUSHING WASNT HE ...DO ME A­ FAVOUR ,,BEING A HAMILTON FAN YOUR ONLY SEEING WHAT YOU­ WANTED TO SEE,, END OF GLOK ALLOWED HAMILTON TO PASS­ VERY TAMELY ITS PLAIN TO SEE,, NO WAY WAS HE FIGHTING­ TO HOLD ONTO 5TH PLACE,,ITS THERE FOR THE WORLD TO­ SEE,,AND AS FOR LOSING 18 SECS IN 1 LAP,,DONT CARE IF­ GLOK WAS DRIVING A SHOPPING TROLLEY ,,NO EXCUSES,,YOU­ KEEP DREMING,, ANY DRIVER WHO WON THE TITLE THIS YEAR­ WAS ALWAYS GOING TO INHERIT A PHONEY CROWN...LIVE WITH­ HAMILTON FANS AND ACCEPT..LOL

    From , on Sun 21 Dec 10:07PM
  10. f1junky1000 .

    If you followed the last contract­ signing you would know that Ferrari had made their deal­ long before any other team had signed with Bernie. That­ is fact .. there are well published documents­ indicating so. Those who follow F1 closely knew that­ before Bernie's little rant.

    From slimj, on Sun 21 Dec 8:22PM
  11. bernard: you ARE moronroute you nutter!

    From crispyduck, on Sun 21 Dec 7:03PM
  12. As usual one or two proper F1 fans on here who have a­ bit of knowledge like MikeQ, and the other usual drivel­ posting idiots return like a bad smell.

    I think Mike­ has made a very interesting point, food for thought­ there.

    From loadswine, on Sun 21 Dec 5:45PM
  13. SCOTTISH C, like i said its who you know, dont change­ ship and join Aston Martin.

    From touronroute, on Sun 21 Dec 5:05PM
  14. Please see my post at 542 Chris.

    .

    Our Bernard is­ Marnio from peru and has been posting the same rubbish­ for weeks and months, best to ignore it.

    From Scottish C, on Sun 21 Dec 3:48PM
  15. Bernard,

    my take on your questions. Glock slowed down­ on the last lap because the rain got worse. His tyres­ could no longer cope with the levels of rain on the­ circuit. If you look his lap time is very similar to­ his team mate's who had a similar problem.

    With­ regards to your question as to the wet & dry line,­ well I am not sure there was really a dry line. It was­ after all raining. The only thing I can assume is that­ you mean that it may have been slightly dryer on the­ inside of the corner on the racing line as other cars­ have displaced the water with their tyres. On wet tyres­ slowing down for the corner & getting enough­ traction to turn is going to become increasingly­ diificult & thus Glock would have found himself­ pushed wide of this ideal line onto what you described­ as the wet line.

    The "evidence" has been­ removed from YouTube no doubt because it is copyight­ material which Bernie has always been proactive in­ keeping a hold of & have sites remove any­ unauthorised material. This applies to coverage of most­ races not just this one.

    Schumacher was a great talent­ & World Champion Bernard but lets not forget those­ championships won by barging his opponent off the road­ in the last races of the season. Something he himself­ admitted. Do we discount those ones too?

    From Chris H, on Sun 21 Dec 3:36PM
  16. i must admit after reading some of these posts Touron­ does have a point.
    Why did glok slow down so much in­ the last lap..
    Why was glok driving on the wet side of­ the track in the last few remaining bends allowing­ hamilton to take the inside DRY line to victory.­
    HHHmmmmmm.....seems a little suspicious to me...Can­ anyone enlighten me as to why Glok was on wet side of­ track in last few bends, considering he had slicks on­ and all
    Whats it all about..
    Why cant this question­ be answered especially by mclaren fans and especially­ by Doughnut Ray $%^&...
    Why has the evidence­ ie..the last lap of the brazilian GB especially the­ last few corners been removed from You Tube..
    Why do­ Mclaren fans keep running away from this question and­ the Truth..
    people keep saying wait till jeremey­ clarkson show..all will be revealed...
    i mean­ considering glok was on slick tyres why was he driving­ right in the wet line of the track on the last few­ corners..everyone keeps saying they are surprised he­ finished at all considering the conditions...Various­ posts state it was like an ice rink...
    So why was Glok­ driving in the WET on SLICKS on the WET LINE NOT/ THE­ DRY LINE on the last few bends....please tell im­ waiting and have been all Day and probably will be for­ a long time yet.­
    SHUYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY­
    77777777777777777777777777777777777777777777­
    TIMESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS­
    WORLDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD­
    CHAMPIONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN
    LOVE­ ITTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT­
    RAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY
    THIS­ RECORD WILL NEVER BE MATCHED!!!!!!!!!!!
    ps...for the­ record any driver who won the title this year was going­ to inherit a phoney crown After the season weve­ had,,,HOLD YOUR HEADS IN SHAME MCLAREN!!!

    From , on Sun 21 Dec 3:16PM
  17. You are mentally ill Touron.

    Really, you are.

    .

    No­ Glock slow down.

    No Glock investigation.

    No De la­ Rosa to Force India.

    No Toyota apologies.

    .

    You­ believe all of these things but none are real.

    You say­ "you havn't read them, no and you­ wont".

    It's all a big conspiracy and only you­ can tell us the truth!

    Advanced delusionary­ schizophrenia with involuntary narcissistic rage.

    From Scottish C, on Sun 21 Dec 1:53PM
  18. SOTTISH C. you havn't read them, no and you wont,­ corrupt mclaren, why do you think in the new year­ mclarens name is going . oh you havn't heard behind­ again

    From touronroute, on Sun 21 Dec 1:45PM
  19. Touron...

    WHAT APOLOGIES FROM TOYOTA???

    .

    There are­ none, you have imagined them, they are not real, you­ are mentally ill.

    From Scottish C, on Sun 21 Dec 1:42PM
  20. Massa is a far better driver than the rookie hamilton ,­ hamilton is just a rookie in the fastest car pure and­ simple

    From BARRY, on Sun 21 Dec 1:20PM
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