Hot Flash: Schumacher to Replace Massa
Michael Schumacher will be replacing the injured Felipe Massa at the European Grand Prix in Valencia. Ferrari confirmed the decision on Wednesday evening.
Kimi Raikkonen, Lewis Hamilton, and Mark Webber
by Erik C. Nielsen
Photos courtesy and copyright Ferrari Media
The Formula One season so far seemed to be a shuffle of the teams at the top of the leader board. Brawn GP came out of the ashes of the old Honda effort to mop up the competition. Red Bull Racing played a strong second fiddle; German fans felt they had their next-generation boy wonder in Sebastian Vettel; and, the legions of tifosi were scared that Ferrari had decided on benchmarking their performance to the efforts of the Scuderia in the late 80s and early 90s. This weekend’s results showed more consistency with the pecking order being restored to last year’s table.
The major incident of the weekend was Filipe Massa’s incident when he was hit in the head by an errant spring from Rubens Barichello’s Brawn GP in qualifying. As of 12:17 GMT today, according to a report on Autosport.com, Massa’s doctor, Dino Altmann, said that Massa will be able to race again.
“I have no doubt Felipe will race again,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
“I’m sure of that. The situation is still delicate, but I believe his life is not in danger anymore. From the beginning I felt that the trauma wasn’t as extended as it was believed, but the improvements of the last hours have gone beyond our wildest expectations.”
Kimi Raikkonen
Motor racing is still a dangerous sport. Within the last week, John Surtees’s son was killed in an open wheel race when a wheel came off a competitor’s car, also hitting him in the head. F1 hasn’t seen a competitor killed since Senna in 1994. Most of the improvements have come from better regulations, but these incidents are still proof that the sport has not been completely sanitized.
Lewis Hamilton won his and his team’s first race of the season,
showing that the tide is turning from the young upstarts to the old guard. Hamilton’s performance was back to what Ron Dennis would expect from his prodigy.
Kimi Raikkonen put forth the most effort that has been seen this season to finish in second place, giving the entire team a bit of an up moment. But everyone on the Scuderia had their thoughts with their stricken pilota. It will be a couple of days before the Italian press starts wondering if the Finn was capable of better performance earlier in the season.
Felipe Massa
Alonso wasn’t able to capitalize on his pole result. After his first pit stop, the team did not properly secure the front right wheel which let go on his out lap. The former champion was able to bring the car around and have a new wheel fitted, but the damage to the car was done and he retired the following lap. The rumor mill has gone into high gear about the Spaniard making the move to Ferrari. The Massa incident through gasoline on that fire, but there seems to be plenty of politics behind that one, and the fat lady hasn’t even entered the building, let alone warmed up.
Webber was not able to make the most of Brawn’s troubles this weekend and finished in third place. It was still a good finish for the team, but not the maximum points that they needed to close the battle with the Brawns. The other Finn was happy with a fifth place, giving the Woking based team a huge mid season motivational boost.
Toyota could do no better than sixth with Timo Glock, but the team smiled when they realized that they did better than the legacy Honda team. His team mate Trulli captured the last point which should help them out in the final standings.
Jenson Button finished in seventh place. The two points he received were definitely more in line with what the team was capable of under the Honda banner. The spring issue has raised questions on how much development is left in the chassis without sacrificing reliability. It is still early to say that the team is done, but this weekend’s result points in that direction.
An informative video of the Massa crash can be seen on YouTube.
Race Results
| 1 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 1h38m23.876s |
| 2 | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | + 11.5s |
| 3 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | + 16.8s |
| 4 | ROSBERG |
Williams-Toyota | + 26.9s |
| 5 | KOVALAINEN | McLaren-Mercedes | + 34.3s |
| 6 | GLOCK | Toyota | + 35.2s |
| 7 | BUTTON | Brawn-Mercedes | + 55.0s |
| 8 | TRULLI | Toyota | + 68.1s |
| 9 | NAKAJIMA | Williams-Toyota | + 68.7s |
| 10 | BARRICHELLO | Brawn-Mercedes | + 69.2s |
| 11 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber | + 70.6s |
| 12 | PIQUET | Renault | + 71.5s |
| 13 | KUBICA | BMW Sauber | + 74.0s |
| 14 | FISICHELLA | Force India-Mercedes | + 1 lap |
| 15 | ALGUERSUARI | STR-ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 16 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | + 1 lap |
| 17 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | + 41 laps, suspension |
| 18 | ALONSO | Renault | + 55 laps, fuel pump |
| 19 | SUTIL | Force India-Mercedes | + 69 laps, engine |
| Fastest Lap | WEBBER | RBR -Renault | 1m21.931s |
Driver’s Championship Standings
| 1 | BUTTON | Brawn-Mercedes | 70 Points |
| 2 | WEBBER | RBR-Renault | 51.5 Points |
| 3 | VETTEL | RBR-Renault | 47 Points |
| 4 | BARRICHELLO | Brawn-Mercedes | 44 Points |
| 5 | ROSBERG | Williams-Toyota | 25.5 Points |
| 6 | TRULLI | Toyota | 22.5 Points |
| 7 | MASSA | Ferrari | 22 Points |
| 8 | HAMILTON | McLaren-Mercedes | 19 Points |
| 9 | RÄIKKÖNEN | Ferrari | 18 Points |
| 10 | GLOCK | Toyota | 16 Points |
| 11 | ALONSO | Renault | 13 Points |
| 12 | KOVALAINEN | McLaren-Mercedes | 9 Points |
| 13 | HEIDFELD | BMW Sauber | 6 Points |
| 14 | BUEMI | STR-Ferrari | 3 Points |
| 15 | KUBICA | BMW Sauber | 2 Points |
| 16 | BOURDAIS | STR-Ferrari | 2 Points |
Constructor’s Championship Standings
| 1 | BRAWN-MERCEDES | 114 Points |
| 2 | RBR-RENAULT | 98.5 Points |
| 3 | FERRARI | 40 Points |
| 4 | TOYOTA | 38.5 Points |
| 5 | McLAREN-MERCEDES | 28 Points |
| 6 | WILLIAMS-TOYOTA | 25.5 Points |
| 7 | RENAULT | 13 Points |
| 8 | BMW SAUBER | 8 Points |
| 9 | STR-FERRARI | 5 Points |