Massa's Brave Hattrick
Tomáš Leixner, text i foto | 20.8.08 | T. Leixner
F1 GP
Not even the superfast Hamilton could threaten the Brazilian from Ferrari at The GP of Turkey
ISTANBUL - His defence is high when he feels injustice, even though it is pointless. Put him just under a little pressure and you increase the probability of him making a mistake exponentially. Felipe Massa is like this. Anytime, anywhere. He is vivid and explosive. However, when Lewis Hamilton overtook him yesterday at the GP of Turkey, he remained calm. He knew for sure: the third Turkish triumph in a row from the pole position would be his. Just focus.Tomas Leixner, reporting from the GP of Formula 1 in Istanbul, TurkeyIt is not a defamation or fantasy. Just look at his ride. Only exceptionally you can see him doing a major mistake, but the little ones, he can not avoid, no matter whether behind the steering wheel of the red Ferrari or formerly colourful Sauber. But he was fast all the time, sometimes as fast as hell. That is a good qualification for F1: it is easier to calm down a fast wild hog than speed up a slow stoic. Jean Todt, who ruled Ferrari and trusted Massa; his son Nicolas, who is Massa's manager and counsellor; Michael Schumacher, who taught him his skill, because Felipe, could listen and understand, unlike others; and Rob Smedley, his racing engineer telling him what to do; those are the men who succeeded doing so. And that is why Massa won in Turkey for the third time in a row.
At a circuit, designed artificially, with the rocks blown up by a dynamite and therefore extremely difficult, he excelled. After Michael Schumacher, he is the first driver to score a clear hattrick with the same car on the same circuit."Shouldn't I be getting a Turkish passport now?" he asked with almost infantile joy, his voice choking after the race. It seemed as if it was his first victory in life. But in fact, it was no less than his seventh triumph. He reached them all with Ferrari, and, with one exception, when he started second, he had always dominated the qualification before the race. Impressive. However, it also proves he needs his way to victory nicely swept. It might have seemed he had it yesterday. But when Lewis Hamilton passed him just halfway in the race, when his McLaren seemed to have gathered almost unbelievable speed after the pitstop, suddenly it appeared it would be the Brit to win.
He closed in on Massa, passed him easy and disappeared behind one of the Istanbul's many horizons. Massa didn't panic, didn't go for any hopeless defence manoeuvres, didn't try to speed up, so as not to be losing 1.2s per lap, but perhaps just a half of it. He focused and worked out: "Hamilton will have to take one pitstop more than me, otherwise he couldn't be so fast." His calculation was confirmed by his engineer immediately. "It was too optimistic from Hamilton and I still knew I had a good chance to win," said Massa storming out of the cockpit like a bullet from a gun. His three fingers raised. If he hid his thumb, showing four fingers, the explanation might be: his teammates' advantage, the real target of Hamilton's daring strategy, just decreased by that many points. In two weeks in Monaco, he can get even closer to the Finn. But won't he be more nervous? In Turkey, he never used any of the safety zones as he avoided mistakes all weekend.
There aren't any in the streets of the Principality. Should he show the same brilliance like yesterday, he might win. Should he not, he will reduce his Ferrari to carbon composite debris at the steel cold walls around the circuit. Just like so many times before. The wild hog got tame, he can revolt anytime though.
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