**** 2007 Malaysian GP ****

[5vz-fe]

Massa is completely useless....that's one point well proven today.

His start is poor, then the attempt to pass Lewis is just pure laughable. I bet Lewis is laughing the whole flight home.

Anther thing is, Mclaren is reliable this year.......so not good for Ferrari. :cry:

[sameerrao]

Disappointing race from a Ferrari standpoint. Kimi did an okay job though with a crippled engine. Massa sucked big time.

Got to hand it to Lewis. What a drive - drove like a champion today. Very good job at keeping the Ferraris behind. Entertaining first few laps and last few laps as well. Good start by Alonso and thereafter he was cruising out there on his own. Good job!

Heidfeld did well too.

[TopGearNL]

As said dissapointing race byMass and Ferrari.

Alonso did quite well but his win was due to Hamilton holding up the Ferrari's IMO. Lewis Hamilton was already my favourite even before driving so well as he does!

I loved the way he talked on the radio after the race:
Ron Dennis: ''Are you allright?''
Lewis Hamilton: ''Yeah Im allright, its just that I want to win! But don't worry Ill win a race somewhere during this season!''

What a champ! 8)

[bmagni]

lol @ massa at the start and the passing attempts... anyways its still the second race and we just have to wait 7 days for another one

Originally Posted by TopGearNL Ron Dennis: ''Are you allright?'' Lewis Hamilton: ''Yeah Im allright, its just that I want to win! But don't worry Ill win a race somewhere during this season!''

that was nice

[ae86_16v]

Originally Posted by Crash.net You can't blame me for trying, insists Massa. Sun 08 Apr, 01:53 PM Felipe Massa has defended his botched overtaking manoeuvre on Lewis Hamilton, a move that saw the Brazilian slip to an eventual fifth place at the end of a Malaysian Grand Prix that he was tipped to dominate. Massa had started from pole position but a tardy getaway and loose first few corners saw him tumble to third, by which he spent the next few laps crawling over the back of Hamilton in a bid to regain the position. However, having seemingly found a way up the inside at turn four on lap four, Hamilton duly countered the move by cutting back up on the inside. When Massa attempted the same pass a lap later though, the Brazilian got out of shape and slid wide, falling behind team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and Nick Heidfeld into fifth. Nonetheless, Massa claims he cannot be blamed for at least trying to pass Hamilton, even if the method did not necessarily match the vision. "It was a very tough race in which we suffered a lot. It was almost impossible to overtake. I tried to attack Lewis, but I made a mistake and ended up off the track. I cannot blame myself for trying and next time things will go better. Still, Massa was disappointed his Ferrari's pace regardless and as such was never able to get back on terms with Heidfeld ahead of him, whose longer fuel strategy helped the German stay ahead. "The race we did not go the way we had expected and our pace was slower than we had expected. Now, we have to find out why and work to improve the situation in the coming races. But it was still important to have got the car to the flag as it is vital to always score points."

http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/08042007/...sts-massa.html

[blue8]

Ferrari Leave Sepang Disappointed (F1 Live):

Ferrari started the Malaysian Grand Prix in first and third position and leave Sepang disappointed with third and fifth positions for Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa.

Raikkonen loses his championship lead to Fernando Alonso while Massa's fifth pace gives him the same position in the overall standings. Ferrari trail rivals McLaren Mercedes by nine points in the constructors' championship.

Kimi Raikkonen
"A day of mixed feelings. On the one hand I am happy to have picked up six points, on the other, I am disappointed that the race did not live up to my expectations. This weekend we had to make some compromises on the car and that meant we were unable to exploit its full potential. Today we lacked a bit of speed when up against our main rivals. I repeat that I'm a bit disappointed but I am also aware this is just the beginning of the season and that these points will definitely be important for the championship as it evolves. The team did a good job, given all the uncertainties we had. We have to try and improve to get one hundred percent out of all the elements of the package. The first corner? Fernando and Lewis were just better than us."

Felipe Massa
"It was a very tough race in which we suffered a lot. It was almost impossible to overtake. I tried to attack Lewis, but I made a mistake and ended up off the track. I cannot blame myself for trying and next time things will go better. The race we did not go the way we had expected and our pace was slower than we had expected.
Now, we have to find out why and work to improve the situation in the coming races. But it was still important to have got the car to the flag as it is vital to always score points."

Jean Todt
"This is definitely a disappointing result. After a great qualifying yesterday, with Felipe on pole and Kimi third, we certainly expected better. Unfortunately, we have had to settle for a third and a fifth place from Kimi and Felipe respectively. The crucial points for getting a race win are grid position, the start, the strategy, reliability and obviously, the performance of the cars. Today, we did not manage a good start with Felipe, who later, in an effort to catch up, went off track and dropped to fifth place, thus compromising his race. Kimi was also overtaken at the start and from then on was unable to do anything about it. In the end, we got both cars home but the ten points we got are definitely cause for satisfaction. We know we are up against a very strong and battle ready opponent who did a better job than us today. Fortunately, in just one week's time we get the chance to make up for it at Sakhir. We will do all we can there to get the best possible result."

Luca Baldisserri
"There is no point in denying that we are disappointed. Our performance level was definitely lower than expected and lower than what we had seen in testing last week as well as on Friday and Saturday. We will have to take a very close look at what happened. Of course the start played a big part in the way the race evolved. Felipe did not make the most of pole and then he was unlucky when trying to pass Hamilton, going off the track, but more critically, losing vital position. The fact that the performance gap between the cars in the race was not as great as we had expected made the situation more complicated, also when taking into account our strategies. Both Kimi and Felipe spent a lot of time in traffic and were thus unable to get the most out of their cars. But we can be pleased about getting both cars to the finish, given the uncertainties the day before. But we now have to work on ensuring that all elements of the package are operating at their maximum."