Massa not happy with size of McLaren penalty

Felipe Massa suggested at Spa Francorchamps that he is not happy with the size of McLaren's penalty for espionage. The Ferrari driver hinted to the Spanish news agency EFE that he is not happy that drivers whose team was found guilty of breaching F1 rules should still be free to fight for the world crown.

"Personally I do not like fighting against people who know things about your team that they shouldn't (know)," the Brazilian said. Massa would not say explicitly that he believes Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton should have been disqualified, but he insisted: "I believe that the drivers are a part of the team."

Spain's World Motor Sport Council member Carlos Gracia, meanwhile, revealed more detail about the possible harsher penalties that were nearly imposed on the McLaren team on Thursday. He told Diario As that Alonso and Hamilton would have had all their drivers' points taken away, while test driver Pedro de la Rosa would have lost his Super License for an indeterminate time.

Massa had suspension problem - Ferrari

Title aspirations now effectively over

Massa now 23 points down with four races to go...

Ferrari's Sporting Director on Sunday admitted that Felipe Massa retired from the Italian Grand Prix probably with a rear suspension failure.The Brazilian, who struck trouble at Monza on lap ten after banging wheels with Lewis Hamilton at the start, has now fallen 23 points behind the championship leader with just four races to go.

"We still have to look into it more closely," Stefano Domenicali told RTL, "(but) it seems to be probably a problem of the suspension." Massa's team-mate Kimi Raikkonen finished Ferrari's home race just third, telling reporters that despite a sore neck, the F2007 was simply outpaced by McLaren this weekend.

Massa was asked by reporters if he thought emerging as the 2007 world champion was now an impossible task. "Impossible no, but for sure not easy," he said. "I'll just keep my head up and be competitive. I'm sure we can fight for more victories."

Italian GP - Massa: "until the last lap of the last race"

The winner of two consecutive Turkish Grands Prix met the media in the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro Media Unit this afternoon, on the eve of what is the only home race for the team this year. "Turkey is in the past now but it is always good to come to an event having won the last race," began Felipe Massa.

"Now I am fully focussed on this weekend and I hope we can repeat what we did in Istanbul. I think we have quite a good chance of doing that. We need to work hard to carry that momentum forward. We will need everything to be perfect and concentrate on every aspect of the weekend and on the preparation and performance of theF2007."
Asked about any specific strategy aimed mainly at the championships rather than just at Sunday's race, Felipe explained that the current situation was too close to call. "At the moment, the only important thing is to put two Ferraris in front of everyone at the end of the race. With only one point between me and Kimi in the Drivers' classification, all we can do is keep fighting to the end of the championship. Every race is equally important. We will be pushing one another hard. We are one hundred percent motivated to do our best for the team and we will be driving our hardest until the last lap of the last race." Massa spent two days running here in testing last week and feels that the
Monza-specification F2007 is a reasonably strong package. "Monza is a very important race for us. I think that every single improvement on the car makes a lot of difference on a circuit like this with its long straights.
Apart from the obvious aerodynamic package required just for this track, we also have a new Shell oil for the gearbox and even that can give us an advantage. Racing in front of the home crowd is also very special. There is such a big tradition for Ferrari here and seeing so many tifosi watching you from the grandstand is amazing and I hope we can do a good job for
them."

A special place for Felipe Massa - Turkish GP - Ferrari - Race

With Felipe Massa crossing the line just over two seconds clear of Ferrari-team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, the team secured their sixth victory of the season and for Massa back to back wins at Istanbul Park. The Brazilian dominated the race from the pole position and the fast-starting Raikkonen was unable to find a way ahead of his team-mate.

The results closes Ferrari to within 11 points of rivals McLaren Mercedes in the constructors' championship, while Massa moves third in the drivers' championship standings one point ahead of Raikkonen and 15 behind title leader Lewis Hamilton.

Felipe Massa“This is becoming a special place for me! It is a really great win! I maintained my concentration for the whole race, trying to control the situation. Only towards the end of the second stint did I make a small mistake at Turn 7 which cost me the gap I had over Kimi, who closed right up to me. I made a very good start and the car behaved perfectly even though it has to be said it was a difficult race. Today’s result is a great encouragement when looking to the final part of the season. It is fantastic to head to Monza after a weekend like this. We must continue to work in this same way and give it our best shot."

Kimi Raikkonen
“Of course I would like to have won but probably the race was decided in yesterday afternoon’s qualifying session. When your main rival is your team-mate, there are less unknown factors and even less room to come up with something.
However, the important thing is to have put two Ferraris in front of everyone else and, in any case, we have made up ground on the championship leader. I got a good start then I had a bit of understeer which went away after a few laps. The second set of tyres did not work as well as the first. The quick lap at the end? I was a bit bored with spending the whole race behind another car and so I tried to see how quick I could have been. In Monza I will have to try and do a good qualifying to be in the best possible situation for the race.”

Massa hails `amazing` Turkish victory

Felipe Massa hailed his "amazing" Turkish GP victory, which saw the Ferrari driver's title campaign get back on track. The Brazilian, who clinched the victory at the Istanbul Park last season, won this year's race from pole to flag while his family watched on from the Ferrari garage. It was an emotional win for Massa, who reduced the gap from himself to Championship leader Lewis Hamilton to just 15 points after the McLaren driver suffered a tyre blow-out.

"It is amazing. Really fantastic," said Massa.
"I love the track, love the place. Here was where my career made a switch, where I started winning races and fighting with the front-runners.
"It is a special place for me. Having the second win is special, it is difficult to find the right words.
"It was an emotional podium, the team likes to take this feeling from the people. I am proud to win in front of him (his father) and my mother."

However, it wasn't all smooth sailing for the Ferrari driver, who came under attack from his team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and was seen throwing aside a piece of his broken helmet. "I had a crack on the cooling system on the helmet and I had a big turbulence and my head was going up and down and I lost concentration and I took it away. I cracked it completely and took it off and it was better," he said.
Meanwhile team-mate Raikkonen was left to lament an error in Saturday's qualifying that saw him claim third place on the grid. Although he immediately moved up to second place at the start, the Finn found himself unable to pass Massa throughout the 58-lap race.

"I had a very good car but at this stage in F1 is difficult to get past," he said.
"The race was really decided yesterday. I tried to do something at the pitstops but when two teammates are fighting usually whoever is first is going to stay there.


"The car was good but there was nothing I could do."


Ferrari's 1-2 means the team is now just 11 points behind McLaren in the race for the Constructors' Championship title.

Source: Planet-F1