As a Ferrari fan, I (like many others) have very fond memories of the days in the mid-90's when Jean Alesi and Gerhard Berger drove for the Scuderia.
For me, Jean Alesi's aggressive, never say die attitude was one of the main attractions to the sport when I first stumbled across it as a 10 year old boy in 1994. He was a true fan favorite, a great entertainer if nothing else. A driver with such an abundance of natural ability it was only matched by his endless string of bad luck and bad choices.
With these fond memories still intact, there was a hint of deja vu at the opening race of 2002 when a young Brazilian named Felipe Massa set out for first practice in Melbourne. Blisteringly quick one lap, flying off the road the next. Reminiscent of Alesi at his most mercurial.
This was a trend that continued throughout that first season and eventually resulted in Peter Sauber dropping him from the team for the following season.
From a brief F1 career seemingly over after being overlooked for a Jordan drive in favor of Ralph Firman, he signed as a Ferrari test driver for the 2003 season in a move that seemed to be based entirely on his manager being the son of the boss at Ferrari.
However, it was at this point he was able to learn his craft out of the limelight, working with the "dream team" at Ferrari at the time and learning countless things from race drivers Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello.
He obviously showed enough talent during this time that Jean Todt thought he warranted a second chance at a race seat in F1. Via a quick reminder to Peter Sauber about who supplied his team's engines, Massa was back in F1 alongside the highly rated Fisichella at Sauber.
Massa by no means had the better of Fisichella that season, but the errors were less frequent and Fisichella himself had such a great season that he was snapped up to be Alonso's teammate at Renault and finally earned himself the big break he had been striving for.
Massa had proved himself enough to be kept in the team alongside incoming driver Jacques Villeneuve, a world champion no less. By all accounts Felipe destroyed what remained of Villeneuve's reputation that season.
Still the odd mistake occurred, but more often than not Massa's raw speed was in evidence when compared to Villeneuve.
Despite the obvious improvement Massa had shown since his first stint at Sauber at this mid table team, the news that he had been chosen as the new Ferrari number two for the 2006 season was greeted much protestation. He was clearly not ready to aid the most successful driver of all time in his efforts for an eighth world title.
The first race of the season confirmed this, an error ridden race resulting in a ninth place finish in Bahrain, when a podium should have been possible. For the first half of the season a trend emerged of Schumacher winning races or harrying Alonso, with Massa trailing in 20 or 30 seconds behind.
No worse than say, Eddie Irvine had compared to Schumacher, but proof for the doubters that Massa was not good enough for this level. At the European Grand Prix Massa scored his first podium finish in F1 behind Schumacher and Alonso, and this seemingly marked a turning point for him.
6 comments Last one added 11 months ago — Leave a Comment
Ben Auty 11 months ago
5 spins at Silverstone ... Any kind of driver at Hockenheim will be an improvment ... Ha ha !
Welcome to Bleacher mate ... Hope you enjoy the site !
I think he has CERTAINLY improved, I actually like him and thats saying something from a McLaren fan but he isnt the most improved in F1 not in my opinion anyway !
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Ben Auty 11 months ago
I wouldnt want him at McLaren right now ... I think McLaren are future proofed for at least 3, 4 maybe 5 years ... Hamilton in my opinion will only get better and Heikki is just finding his feet ... He will be a force pretty soon ... But if he was in a McLaren and he spun 5 times in a race I would be going bloody nuts ... I wasnt happy with Heikki spin at Silverstone letting Alonso and Raikkonen through ... Not good enough !
But yes ... Any driver given a drive at Ferrari will improve surely !
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Chris Burns 11 months ago
Cheers for the welcome. I have noticed from my mates that are McLaren fans that 'It's hard not to like Massa'. Especially more so than Raikkonen, despite him being a former McLaren driver.
It was a bit of an unfortunate time to write it after his worst performance in F1 to date! Who do you think has improved more of the current grid?
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Sheiban Shakeri 11 months ago
Hey Chris, great first article there!
If you see Massa's performance at the beginning of 2006, the guy appeared to be a menace, nearly taking out Alonso in the season opener at Bahrain (Not that I would've minded ;) ), and just had trouble adapting. From there, he seems to have matured into a battle-hardened veteran, and I hope to see him challenging...
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King Rossi 11 months ago
Although I am Mclaren fan but I like Massa than Kimi. Massa seems to be more lively appearance than Kimi. massa brings his joy to paddock when he wins. But Kimi ......... just a little smile. Do u guyz remember what Jean Todt said about Kimi? 'That man is never a leader'.
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Paul Murtagh 11 months ago
Very good article Chris.
Although it is well known that I am not a fan of Massa, he has improved alot since joining the Scuderia in 2006. He has driven very well this year (Silverstone aside) and has rightly earned a chance to challenge for the championship. However I don't think he has the consistency to take the title, and to be fair he is only up there with Raikkonen and Hamilton because those two have had more off-days than normal. But if they continue to have their off-days then Felipe has a very good chance of snatching the crown from underneath their nose - something that won't sit well with Raikkonen
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