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Originally Posted by anachronix When Massa shut the door on Alonso, do you know who was on the racing line? Stupid defense means, the driver in front goes all over the place to protect his place and getting shabby. It is still defense and he is allowed to do it. But its stupid! I have seen better defense/overtaking than what Massa is capable of. |
And I have seen better attacks and sportsmanship than Alonso displayed. So let's not go there. The fact of the matter is and will remain that Massa was well within his right (and drivers code of conduct) to defend how he defended.
Next people will say Inter did not deserve the Champions league because they parked their bus in front of their goal while playing Barca. Truth is defence is as much part of the game as is offence. For Barca fans Inter's defence was obscene, for Inter fans it was a joy to watch.
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Originally Posted by anachronix So why were the Mclaren boys not allowed to race each other in Canada? Did we not pay money for that 'race' and not watch the race for a team parade to the finish line? |
And I never said that team order by other teams are all right.
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Originally Posted by anachronix Alonso did back off to save the day for Ferrari. If it was another driver Alonso would have taken the risk of attacking by all probabilities. He had to take it more carefully since it was his team mate and he cant afford risk both cars while they are running in front. |
He backed off not to save the day for Ferrari but to save the day for himself. And what would he have done with 'attacking'? One opportune move is what he could make in 40 laps of driving. He is a good driver all right but in that race 9 out of 10 unbiased racing fans can tell you that Massa would have won the race in all likelihood.
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Originally Posted by anachronix Are you happy about Redbull antics? |
I already stated my position on that quite clearly. And if you did not happen to read it, I will repeat it again - I would not like to see teammates taking each other out. BUT what I would not like MORE is what Ferrari did.
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Originally Posted by anachronix Where were these worried & disgusted faces when Heikki was slowing down in Hungary 2008 to let Hamilton take the win. Is this kind of disgust that comes when you see the prancing horse take a 1-2? |
What you will have to understand is that it is not Ferrari vs the other teams we are talking about here. If you have not already made out by my avatar, I am a Ferrari fan myself. But like I said before, I am a racing fan first. I am talking about team orders and in my eyes they are wrong irrespective of what teams do it. I recoiled in disgust when Heikki gave way and I have similar (if not stronger) feelings now.
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Originally Posted by anachronix The British press will do their best job with this news! That picture was from a moment when they were getting off the stage. It childish of Dailymail! |
The world is full of such pictures. You only had to see the post-race press conference to get an idea of the true feelings within and outside the Ferrari camp.
Although I am not a particular fan of any of the current Ferrari drivers since Kimi left, in this particular case I firmly feel Massa was shortchanged.
What people are failing to give Massa credit for is jumping into a race car and driving to win less than 12 months after leaving hospital with a career threatening injury. There is so much a person goes through and you need courage and conviction, fight your inner demons to come back and put on those overalls again. That's what sports is about for me - the triumph of the human spirit against the odds. And Massa was beating those odds in this race. Yes he is fragile, yes there are better drivers than him all around but that does not take away anything from the fact that he is capable of winning. His reward for displaying that capability in the last race is now a broken spirit rather than a trophy.
The bottom line (from my side) is this - F1 is a sport and I watch it because it is a sport. I don't watch it to see how much money what team put in and what returns they get on it (for that game I watch business news). I watch it because I see people triumphing over odds. I derived much joy from seeing Ross Brawn walk away with a title after having the courage and conviction to forge ahead with his ideas without adequate sponsor support. In sports, as in life, there is a thin line between stupidity and bravery. If Ross would have finished down at the tail end with bankruptcy looming ahead, people would have called him stupid. He won titles and was called a hero. In this case if it was a Mclaren behind Massa and Alonso was leading the race then the same move would have been called brave by Alonso fans. Depends on what glasses one is wearing.
I am overall a sports fan, then a racing fan, then a F1 fan and then a Ferrari fan (too many fans, eh?). Anything that goes against the spirit of the sport is wrong for me. I was a fan of Thierry Henry till he did what he did at the WC qualifiers. So personally I have too little tolerance for these kind of things.
Different people have their own views on it (and with good reason). Since this is a public forum, I have taken the liberty to share my views which can very well be in disagreement with views of other people. Since what we are debating here is a subjective matter and not an exact science with precise formula to determine what is right and what is wrong I agree to disagree with people who feel what happened on Sunday was right.