Eurosport - Fri, 29 Aug 17:42:00 2008
Ferrari's Felipe Massa, winner of the European Grand Prix at the weekend, picked up where he left off with the fastest time on the first day of Formula One testing at Monza.
The Brazilian, six points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton in the championship with six races remaining, lapped Ferrari's home circuit in one minute 23.428 seconds according to unofficial times.
McLaren's Heikki Kovalainen was second on the timesheets in 1:23.439.
The Monza session, ahead of next month's Italian Grand Prix, marked the resumption of testing after the August break with all 10 teams present.
Ferrari said Massa had worked on developing the aerodynamic package to be used at the Italian race, carrying out three long runs and a total of 101 laps.
The next race is the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps on September 7.
Testing times:
1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 1:23.428 - 101 laps completed
2. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 1:23.439 - 78
3. Nico Rosberg (Williams) 1:23.461 - 60
4. Sebastian Vettel (Toro Rosso) 1:23.691 - 99
5. Rubens Barrichello (Honda) 1:23.827 - 85
6. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 1:24.005 - 96
7. Nick Heidfeld (BMW Sauber) 1:24.075 - 77
8. Vitantanio Liuzzi (Force India) 1:24.239 - 99
9. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 1:24.510 - 92
10. Nelson Piquet Jr (Renault) 1:24.546 - 117
Comment 16 - 35 of 35
Massa has found his balance and the incident in Hungary ignited him to fight even harder and we saw that in Valencia. His driving shows that he wants this years' title like mad and he's the only one who's helping Ferrari pay the bills by winning races and scoring points for Ferrari, while the "enchanted" reigning champion continues with his theatre: "I am gonna do this and that"...!!
Get over it! Kimi is done for the season, he's lost it and all he's doing is damaging Ferrari's reputation and I can't figure why Ferrari would even keep him for another year! The fight for the title will be between Massa and LH, the only true contenders for this year's title.
We are starting to see the best of Massa and he's driving shows that he's got his mind on target for the title, nothing less.
LH is actually helping Massa with his competitive performances, when Kimi should be stepping up the pressure in favor of the team, but he is too incompetent to even qualify for 2nd behind Massa and help the team win more points.
Thanks LH! Keep the pressure on Massa!
No, Kimi will come back from the slump to win it. Like the same way he was 17 points behind with 2 races to go but this time Kimi will beat Massa to be double time world champion.
I believe Massa can still take if from Hamilton. During an interview with ITV before the European GP, Hamilton said he was surprised that Massa overtook him on the outside lane at the start of Hungarian GP, and that was something nobody had ever done before. Well I've got news for you Hamilton - Massa will do it again! As long as Ferrari sort out the reliability problems. I also think Massa smells blood, and will out-qualify Kimi for the rest of the season, so Ferrari dont need to advice Kimi to support Massa. Kimi simply cannot match Massa's pace.
TO 28 moggie ~~ we totally agree with you ~~ many thanks for posting your comments
it would appear we are all agreed on that point ~ if you have the finest car & team ==== better chance 2 win
sounds simple TOO MUCH MONEY INVOLVED so please listen to RON DENNIS & C U T COSTS
DONT WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS ENERGY ON SO MUCH ENVY & JEALOUSY KIDS
Testing means nothing; often we've seen Ferrari obtaining best times in testing and later on the season, on the same track, they barely kept up with McLaren. McLaren have the more stable and reliable car; Ferrari are fast but the drivers lack the courage to take it to the limit; why then would Schumacher be still the fastest driver in regular testing? There is more to achieve from Ferrari but without a bad luck from the McLaren like the last year, I don't see how they could win this championship.
the only reason mclaren can win is because they put all there energy into Hamilton and not Heikki, ferrari rule and thats that LONG LIVE FERRARI!!!
in my opinion, if robert kubica was given a seat in a truly competitive machine i.e. a ferrari, then he would show himself to be the best driver in the class. as far as i am concerned, the raikonnens, hamiltons and kovalinens are only the leaders because of the neverending arms race. he has a great racing brain, quiet demeanour and likebale perosnality, something missing from the top 4 at the moment it has to be said.
Hamilton will not win it so dont get your hopes up.
It is Hamiltons Championship to have. He will win it going away.
fun time put Hamilton & Massa in the Honda cars with Button & Barachello seated in Ferrarrii & Maclaren
on race day ~~~~~~~ then guess which CAR & TEAM will bring home a few points~~ any ideas ?
I'm always surprised that the difference in lap times, even between the top teams and those right at the back is so small, especially in qualifying.
We have so many differences: chassis, weight, fuel loads, tyres (pressures and compounds), engine, gearbox, aerodynamics, driver ability, and lines around the track and each corner, reaction times, and they will still all get around a 3 mile circuit within a couple of secounds of each other.
Mclaren are ahead of Ferrari in fastest lap times now
Tomorrow will be Kimi and Hamilton
startoratora ---
To certain extend you are right. I would say that 75% of the current crops of drivers will win at least 1 race in the course of the whole season if they are put in either a Ferrari or Mclaren.
These drivers are top rated drivers. To say that driver factor is only 10% is a bit under rated. Don't forget that they still need to beat their own team mates to win. Hekki only managed to win the race because Massa's engine blew and Lewis suffered a punctured tyre. So Lewis has proven to be a hard to beat team mate as far.
marsbarsrnice --
Usually test don't really tell much because we don't know what each team is really set up to do. However, as history has shown, if there is no form in the test, don't expect the race performance to be well. Under this circumstances, Massa in the Ferrari is certainly on course to genuinely fight for the title. Given that Kimi is unusually out of form, this season is really Massa's chance to go for the title. He may not get such a 2nd chance.
To put thing in perspective, as far as car performance is concern, the difference between Ferrari and Mclaren is really not much.
give vettell or t TRULLI the Ferrari seat to watch them win the races
It IS THE FINEST FASTEST BEST CAR & CREW THAT WIN RACES ~~ the Driver is only10% of success
Discount Kimi at your own peril. Seems to me the sort of guy that fights best from an underdog position, so there is more to come i think. The good thing for McLaren is that when Kimi is on fire, Massa wilts. If Lewis doesn't make horrendous mistakes, this should see him open up a good lead. My worry though is that the pressure of winning his first Championship will dog him to the end - after that an even better LH will emerge. Good luck Lewis, you deserve the title.
Hamilton will win in Monza and will grab important points at Spa, I think he wil also win in Japan but not China or Brazil, making the season end with only a few points between 1st and second again, so every point is important
F1 tests don't usually mean a great deal because teams run differemt programmes and aren't competing with each other. But interesting to see the Renault powered teams are down the time charts again on a power circuit.
Hamilton lucky?
Think Japan last year and Silverstone this year........
I like Massa cos he's come a long way and made a lot of improvements but he only seems to really come good on the circuits with similar characteristics ie. fast circuits with sweeping corners. He struggles on the slower circuits and he's poor in the wet it has to be said.
If you don't agree then think Monaco and Silverstone this year where he made endless mistakes.
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