Rogue Profile of Felipe Massa

“The car was good throughout the whole session – I didn’t need to make any changes during the hour. I made a mistake on my third run, so I couldn’t improve then, but the problem at the end was Massa,” Jenson Button explained. “He slowed me down, just as for lots of other people, apparently. Something needs to be done about it.”

“We were shafted big time by Massa,” said an angry Mark Webber afterwards, “We lost a bit of track time during qualifying with a hydraulic problem which meant we only managed three runs instead of four. I came out from my final run right at the end of the session when the track was at its quickest but also at its busiest. I was already two tenths of a second up on my first sector time when I came across Massa who was on his slow down lap.”

“I had a pretty normal start and really enjoyed the first part of the race. I was quicker than Massa but when I overtook him he missed the brakes and pushed me off. I rejoined and was behind Irvine and Button and, although I could catch them, I couldn’t get past,” said Bernoldi.

“At the start Villeneuve was really slow away and I had to go round him. Unfortunately I had to go on the grass and spun, but luckily I didn’t hit anyone,” explained Massa. “The track was very slippery in the early laps, but I made up a lot of lost time by stopping sooner than most for intermediates, on lap 12. I stayed with intermediates after my second stop on lap 30, but they lost their edge so I had to come in for grooved tyres 10 laps later. I was quicker than several people ahead of me after that, but I’d lost too much time to score a point.”

“At the start I made a mistake and release the launch control system a fraction too early. For safety reasons I had to keep going, and for a while I was in seventh place until I got my first drive-through penalty,” Felipe explained. “After that I got another one for crossing the white line on the pit exit; okay, it was my fault, but it’s quite tricky there and the line is dirty, and several other well-established drivers did the same thing later on. In my second pit stop there was a misunderstanding with the crew, and I think maybe something broke when I tried to rejoin the race. It’s a shame, because in between my adventures the car felt really good.”

Massa was up to his old trick again during Friday’s free practice session. The
young Brazilian spent much of his time spinning off the track but he did have
the gumption to try to blame the oil dropped from Fisichella’s Jordan after it’s
engine blew.

"I’m pleased with the way my car has been performing today," he
said. "It’s got plenty of grip and the balance was fine. I had a couple
of adventures when I was pushing hard, but the incident on my final lap this afternoon
happened because I was the first to arrive after Fisichella had left a lot of
oil in the first corner. I damaged the front wing of the car, which folded back
underneath it, but otherwise everything was okay. I never drove at the old Hockenheim,
but for sure I like this revised version. It’s a good track."

Like his teammate, Nick Heildfeld, Massa crashed his Sauber at turn four in
Friday’s second practice session, damaging his race chassis. It was an embarrassing
error from Massa given that the chequered flag had been shown and the session
was at an end.

“I like this track, but today it was very dirty,” Massa said. “A
lot of people went off, and I was one of them. I made a small mistake, but it
was a big penalty. I improved my times all day, and after a spell running in traffic
I got a clear lap again so I was pushing hard. Then, like Nick, I slid on to the
dirty part of the track and lost control of the car.”

On lap fifteen, Pedro de la Rosa was in a middle of a group of drivers who were
fighting for the last points scoring position when he cut across the first chicane
after an error under braking. On the next lap he struck the back of Felipe Massa’s
Sauber in Ascari when he was balked the Brazilian. The Jaguar’s left front suspension
was damaged and it’s front left tyre deflated, the Spaniard had no choice but
to retire from the race. Massa was out of the race on the next lap after his Sauber
slid in to the gravel due to a rear wing and suspension failure that was a direct
result of damage caused in the impact with the Jaguar. (The two Sauber drivers
were testing the Head and Neck Support device (HANS) that would be made mandatory
in 2003 but only Massa was using it in the race.)

"I had enough fuel to do a single stop run, so I was at a disadvantage
early on and lost places after a reasonable start. Then on lap 15 de la Rosa cut
the first chicane, but instead of moving over to let me by he stayed ahead for
a lap," he explained. "He was so slow going down to Ascari that
I put my car in the middle of the track and, as far as I was concerned, I was
past him. Maybe he hit the throttle again. Whatever, we touched, and that damaged
either my right rear suspension or the tyre, so a lap later I was out. The only
good thing is that I became the first driver to race in F1 with the HANS safety
collar today, and it gave me no problems all weekend."

The race stewards judged that Massa was to blame for the accident and had caused
an avoidable collision. After the race it was announced that as a punishment he
would loose ten grid places at the next Grand Prix at Indianapolis.

"The Stewards of the Meeting received a report from the Race Director
stating that the driver of car number 8 (Felipe Massa) caused a collision with
the driver of car number 17 (Pedro de la Rosa). Both drivers and their representatives
were summoned. "

"Having heard the explanations of both Drivers and viewed video evidence,
the Stewards of the Meeting decide to impose a penalty on the driver of car number
8 (Felipe Massa) of a drop of ten grid positions at the next Event (2002 USA Grand
Prix), in accordance with article 55c of the 2002 FIA Formula One Sporting Regulations
for causing a collision contrary to Article 53 of the aforementioned regulations.
The Competitor is reminded of its right to appeal."

Felipe Massa was eliminated from the 2002 Japanese Grand Prix on the fourth lap
of the race. Massa was making a return to racing after he was rested for the United
States Grand Prix in avoidance of a penalty he picked up at Monza. In his first
season of Formula one Massa had earned a reputation as a crasher, largely due
to his driver style that saw the Brazilian use too much steering input. In the
last race of the season he did his best to uphold his reputation.

On lap four Massa was following Jacques Villeneuve’s BAR but he placed his
car too close coming into Degner 1. As the Sauber got closer to the BAR it lost
front downforce and when Massa turned into the fast right-hand corner he understeered
onto the gravel. Unable to gain control of the car the Brazilian was powerless
to stop it spinning through 180 degrees bore impacting heavily into the tyre barrier.
The Sauber’s rear-suspension was destroyed and Massa was out of the race. In many
ways, the result summed up Massa’s season perfectly.

"I got my car over the kerb exiting the Degner Curve and then I lost
a bit of downforce as I was right behind Villeneuve so I just couldn’t get back
on the road"’ Felipe said. "I’m disappointed to finish my last
race for the team this way, but I would like to say thank you to Peter Sauber
for the opportunity to race in Formula One this year, and to all my engineers
and mechanics for their help and support."

Massa made it back out of the gravel to carry on.

The safety car was brought out to clean up the damage with it returning to the pits on lap 38.

Luckily for Massa he had light damage to the rear of his car and he was able to recover and carry on.

Later Massa commented to BBC Sport:

“Again, he cannot use his mind, Even in qualifying, so can you imagine in the race? He could have caused a big accident and he’s paying for that. I was in the middle (of the track) and then got a puncture, which cost me a lot.

“When the Safety Car came in I had the wrong tyres. The FIA must look at this and penalise him all the time. He can’t even listen to his father, so can you imagine he listens to me?”

Support races had already had issues with the kerbs and some had been removed. In practice it seemed that the drivers were intent on removing the remaining kerbs.

The stewards judged that Massa had been aware of Hamilton and had turned in anyway. Hamilton had tried to brake to get himself out of the way but it was not enough to avoid the collision.

Hamilton had a damaged front wing and was force to repair it in the pits.

Massa received a drive through penalty.