Ferrari

Felipe Massa had a terrible year in 2011.

Team mate Fernando Alonso wrung every ounce of pace out of the Ferrari, taking one win and nine further podiums.  He narrowly missed out on third in the drivers' championship, with 257 points—just one behind Mark Webber in the pace-setting Red Bull.

By contrast, Massa managed no better than six fifth places.  With fewer than half the points of Alonso, he was a distant sixth in the championship—only 29 points ahead of Nico Rosberg in the much slower Mercedes.

While the changes to the tyres may not have suited his style, it's the driver's job to adapt to change.  Prone to emotional outbursts and clearly feeling the pressure, his performances were simply not good enough.

Massa's career is hanging in the balance, and he was lucky to retain his seat for 2012.  Ferrari have frequently, and very publicly, said they expect better.  Chairman Luca di Montezemolo has even gone so far as to name possible replacements—though, speaking to Corriere dello Sport, he did say he expects Massa to rediscover his old form.

2012 is the crucial season for Felipe. We were not satisfied with his past season and neither was he. What I cannot forget is the fact that Felipe was often faster than Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen. He helped Kimi to his championship and a year later was a hair short of being champion himself. If the tyres warm up for him better next season, we believe Felipe can cope much better.

FIA president and former Ferrari CEO Jean Todt—the man who brought the Brazilian to the team—has also stated he believes Massa will do better in the coming season.

Is such faith well founded?

No one expects him to beat, or even match Alonso.  The Spaniard is one of the best drivers on the grid, and Massa is not.  But he's expected to be closer.

Ferrari want a comfortable, but competitive number two.  Ideally, they'd have Massa finish every race just behind Alonso—picking up the points, taking points away from rivals, and not interfering with his teammate's title challenge.

That's the system at Ferrari.  They don't want two guys battling each other.  They want a winner, and a backup.  And they want the backup to be Massa.

And therein lies the problem.  Massa is a "confidence driver"—a man who thrives in a family-like atmosphere, needs the backing of the team, and needs to believe in himself to perform to the best of his abilities. 

He missed out on the world championship by a single point in 2008.  He wishes to believe he's capable of becoming a title winner, but Ferrari regard him as a clear number two.

It was OK being a number two under Schumacher—he was young, learning, and just delighted to have the opportunity to drive for Ferrari. 

His next team mate, Kimi Raikkonen, never went to lengths to ingratiate himself with the guys who built and looked after his car.  Besides, Massa often outpaced the increasingly demotivated Finn—he was the de facto team leader in 2008 and 2009.

Massa was an important part of the Ferrari setup.

But Alonso came into the team which had been his home for four seasons and immediately placed himself at the head of the table, taking away Massa's chair and putting it in the corner. 

The Spaniard dominated the garage from the start, and made it clear that after being surprised by supposed number two Lewis Hamilton at McLaren, he won't accept it happening again. 

From that moment on, Massa has gone backwards.  We have to bear in mind that 2010 was only a little better for Felipe than 2011 was—a stolen victory in Germany aside.

While it's possible—even likely—that his injury still affects him, the main problem is confidence.   He simply doesn't have any at the moment, and that's what he needs to turn things around.

But the team is the same.  Alonso is the same.  His role is the same, as are the expectations of Ferrari.

So can we really expect anything other than the same from Massa?

Is it possible for two DRS (drag reduction system) zones to save the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix from descending into the 100 minutes of tedium that was the 2010 Formula One season decider?

Going into the final race last year, all Fernando Alonso had to do to secure his third championship was cover Mark Webber, who was eight points down, and Sebastian Vettel, who was a further five points back.

Perhaps thinking that Vettel was too far back, Ferrari chose just to cover Webber allowing Vettel to simply drive off into the distance to secure the race win.

Webber had a horror day and the decision to cover him by Ferrari ended up seeing Alonso trapped behind Renault’s Vitaly Petrov for a stultifying 37 laps.

Alonso finished in seventh place, Vettel finished first to snatch his unlikely championship and the overwhelming impression that fans got was that it was a tedious race.

The number of on-track overtaking manoeuvres could be counted on one hand—with plenty of fingers to spare.

If it wasn’t for the championship intrigue, it could well have been the most heinously boring race in F1 history.

This year, there isn’t even the championship to hold our interest and therefore the FIA has had to dip twice into its bag of gimmicks to attempt to provide a veneer of interest to yet another unnecessary stop on the F1 world tour.

The current calendar is filled with races in countries with no F1 tradition. There is no real passion for the sport at the grass-roots level and it seems that the races are just being used as a fashion accessory for governments.

The tracks are cookie cutter creations, doled out by Hermann Tilke and the driving criteria behind them is that they look good on television, rather than exciting racing.

So we’re back to hoping that a bit of technical trickery will make up for inadequate track design and the complexities of the modern F1 car design. DRS, however, has not proven to be the consistent game changer that it was held out to be.

If the DRS zones are badly placed—again—then it will have little or no effect whatsoever.

After the 2010 debacle, the race organisers were “encouraged” to look at modifying the track to encourage overtaking. The early tentative successes of KERS, DRS and Pirelli tyres in 2011 convinced the organisers to hold off for a year.

We’ll find out soon if that was a good decision. Somehow, it doesn't seem likely.

In a move that defies his 64 years of age, Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has performed a backflip worthy of an Olympic gymnast.

On Ferrari’s official website, they are reporting that Montezemolo’s demands for change from the Formula One officialdom were in no way an ultimatum or threat to leave the sport.

For those who missed out on this outburst, you can get the details here, but the comment that has raised F1 eyebrows was, "If Formula 1 still wants Ferrari it must change."

To most observers, that statement is pretty unequivocal. It says, If you want us to stay, then you need to change.

Not at Ferrari, though.

They have countered with this:

For starters, the words “leave” or “ultimatum” did not even feature in his pronouncement, but what really needs to be stressed is that Montezemolo spoke in a totally constructive fashion, which is usually the case with the President of a company that has always been in Formula 1 and who has the future wellbeing of the greatest form of motorsport so close to his heart.

While it is certainly factually correct that Montezemolo didn’t use those exact words, the meaning was clear for all to see. Besides, if someone puts a gun to your head, it really doesn’t need them to say “I’ve put a gun to your head” for it to get your attention.

So what we are now to believe is that Montezemolo’s words were like the stern talking to that a naughty toddler might get from their dad, as opposed to the schoolyard bully demanding your lunch money.

The problem is that while his original comments had some merit and were reasonable starting points for a debate, the fact that they were put up as demands immediately puts everyone offside.

There is a strong sentiment in F1—outside of the Ferrari fan club—that the prancing horse has too much influence in the sport already. This isn’t helped by Jean Todt stepped straight from his position as CEO of Ferrari into the presidency of the FIA.

The latest demands just underline that sentiment.

It comes as no surprise that Ferrari are demanding change at a time when they are struggling in the F1 championship. They are uncompetitive and, rather than work within the restrictive—but moderately equitable—rules framework, they want to be allowed to run free and spend their way out of trouble.

The rest of the F1 world has fought hard to level the playing field. They’re not about to turn their back on that just to help Ferrari feel better about themselves.

It is difficult to imagine Formula One without Ferrari being an integral part of the sport, but that is a real possibility if Ferrari President, Luca di Montezemolo is to be believed.

The Scuderia boss has come out demanding changes to F1 that must be met to ensure the long-term involvement of the Maranello outfit.

He has come out in the industry press claiming,

We can be very patient but there are precise conditions for us to continue with our work. We race not just for the publicity it brings us but above all to carry out advanced research aimed at all aspects of our road cars: engine, chassis, mechanical components, electronics, materials and aerodynamics, to such an extent that the technology transfer from track to road has grown exponentially over the past twenty years.

He went on to say,

Formula 1 is still our life, but without Ferrari there is no Formula 1, just as without Formula 1, Ferrari would be different.

Long-time followers of F1 will not be surprised to hear that Ferrari thinks that the sport revolves around them. Rarely, however, has it been put into such plain language.

To be fair, Ferrari is the one constant in the kaleidoscope that is F1. They are the only team to have competed in every one of the 61 seasons that the sport has been travelling the globe.

That should count for something.

Ferrari’s demands, surprisingly, actually make a fair bit of sense.

The main changes that they would like to see are: the introduction of a third car per team, the return of in-season testing and reduced reliance on aerodynamics.

To look at them in reverse order, the aerodynamics issue is one that is close to the heart of many F1 fans.

The modern F1 car has more in common with a fighter jet than anything that normal punters might get to drive on a day-to-day basis. The aerodynamic grip that these cars can produce is astonishing, but it is these same innovations that are killing the sport.

Take a look back at races from the 1970’s and 80’s and see how close cars could follow each other through corners. It was great racing and there was overtaking galore. The air coming off a modern F1 car, however, is so turbulent that the aerodynamics of the following car simply don’t work efficiently making following closely impossible.

No amount of KERS and DRS can make up for that.

The absence of in-season testing is not helping either. While the testing was banned to create a more equitable environment for the poorer teams, it has meant that bridging the gap to a team that brings in an early advantage is extremely difficult.

It’s no surprise that teams can’t catch Red Bull Racing at the moment.

Teams now have to use Friday practice sessions to try out new componentry, which takes away from their race preparations.

Finally, the introduction of third cars is a difficult one.

While having another Ferrari or McLaren running around would give good drivers a rare competitive spot to aim for, there are only a limited number of spots on the grid. More of the top teams' cars will mean less of the lesser teams.

It might make for better racing, but takes away sport’s nursery, the places where aspiring drivers and other team members go to learn their trade.

If there’s one thing that F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone really enjoys, it’s people demanding that he do something. It will be interesting to see how he responds to the Ferrari outburst and whether he will engage in his usual game of brinkmanship.  

Anyone taking bets on who blinks first?

Fernando Alonso has had a pretty good year by most objective standards.

Like everyone else, he has been left in the wake of the unstoppable Sebastian Vettel, but is still in strong contention to claim the crown for best of the rest.

That Alonso is at the pointy end of the field will not come as a surprise to most Formula One fans, what is somewhat surprising is that he is doing it in the somewhat substandard Ferrari F150° Italia.

While it would take a brave person to declare any Ferrari—be it road or track—to be a dud, most pundits would agree that the car designated to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Italy’s unification has really failed to impress.

If we apply Jeremy Clarkson’s theory that when Ferrari have a bad F1 car, their road cars are great then the current Ferrari road car must be an absolute cracker.

Despite that, Alonso has carried his scarlet chariot around the track with remarkable consistency and, while he has only secured one victory, he has threatened on a couple of occasions and arguably might have won in Monaco had the race not been red-flagged.

He also pushed very hard in Japan, finishing just over a second behind eventual winner Jenson Button while holding off a charging Vettel.

Of the three leading teams, the 2011 Ferrari is by far the weakest, yet Alonso is within 13 points of second place driver Button.

He is ahead of Lewis Hamilton and, surprisingly, is even eclipsing Mark Webber in the incomparable Red Bull RB7.

None of this, though, is as remarkable as Alonso’s attitude throughout the season.

History tells us that Nando is not the most patient of participants in the pantomime that is F1.

He complained bitterly in 2007 about perceived favouritism being shown to Hamilton by McLaren, even getting. He even managed to have the FIA appoint a special official to ensure that he got fair treatment for the season decider in Brazil.

Strangely, he had a quiet 2008 and 2009 after returning to an uncompetitive Renault, but he suffered quietly until he moved to Ferrari in 2010.

During a great season that saw him leading the championship going into the final race, F1 fans were given the full diva show as Alonso found one thing after another to complain about.

Whether it was being held up by a slow teammate, the shabby treatment at the hands of the stewards in Valencia or being held up by Vitaly Petrov in the championship decider, Alonso complained long and loud to anyone and everyone who would listen.

The 2011 season has seen the return of a mellower, more relaxed Alonso. He had written the season off as early as Round 8 in Valencia and seemed content just to go out to secure race wins and fight for a meaningless second place in the championship.

Hopelessness seems to agree with Alonso. When the pressure was on last year, it proved too much for both him and the team. This year with no pressure at all, he is delivering results beyond what should be expected.

Perhaps if he got to drive a HRT car, we’d see the very best of him.

If whinging, whining and complaining were Olympic sports, Felipe Massa could represent Brazil next year in London.

The diminutive Ferrari pilot has had a woeful year on the track and has worked very hard to ensure that he’s had a bad one off the track too.

Massa and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton have had running battles all season, ending in the pair coming together on no less than five occasions and coming close plenty of other times, too.

While that might seem a little excessive, when you take into account that the Ferraris and McLarens are reasonably evenly matched, the chances are that they are going to going to get in each other’s way sooner or later.

The fact that the two have occasionally come together is irrelevant, it is Massa’s reaction that has started to wear thin.

Only a month ago, the feud between the two erupted.

Massa went through a couple of weeks where he was telling anyone who would listen that Hamilton was a menace, that he was dangerous and out of his mind.

He even went to complain to the stewards about Hamilton before the Singapore practice sessions—a kind of preemptive whinging session.

It was a crusade worthy of the finest schoolyard tattle-tale. It was personal, it was childish, and it was completely lacking in any ability to see any fault in himself.

The really strange thing is that Massa complains almost as much when Hamilton gets penalized as when he doesn’t. Hamilton was penalized in Monaco and Singapore, Massa complains. Hamilton isn’t penalized at Silverstone or Japan, Massa complains.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FccdfI8XvXA

Massa himself is penalized in India, and he complains.

Then again, after hitting the traffic island and ripping the wheel off his car, he needed to do something to distract from the fact that he destroyed his own race.

Are you seeing a pattern? Win, lose, or draw, Massa is going to complain.

Of the five occasions where Hamilton and Massa have come together this year, three of them have been brought about by Massa turning in on Hamilton—it could even be four if we go back to the pair’s collision at Monza in 2010.

In Singapore qualifying he did the same again, nearly taking the nose off Hamilton’s car before complaining bitterly about Hamilton returning the favour at the next corner.

In the Singapore race, Massa was completely innocent in the pair’s coming together—if we don’t count driving ridiculously slowly. In Japan, Massa put his car in an inexplicable position on the outside of a corner that he was never going to make stick.

In the most recent incident, Massa turned in on Hamilton yet again, taking the nose off the McLaren.

Footage of the incident shows Massa checking his mirror twice. Hamilton had his nose alongside Massa’s cockpit and Massa admits that he knew Hamilton was there, but still he turned in.

Good racers can manage to be side-by-side without colliding. Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso managed to pull it off through Eau Rouge in Belgium—one of the most difficult corners in F1.

Webber and Hamilton managed to spend three-quarters of a lap side-by-side around the Korean circuit without touching. Hamilton and Jenson Button did it in Turkey in 2010.

It’s when Massa is involved that the fun starts.

And then, inevitably, so does the complaining.

Felipe Massa’s emotional attack on Lewis Hamilton after the Singapore Grand Prix is a clear symptom of a driver realising his dreams of glory have evaporated.

After a testy weekend in which the Brazilian and Brit had couple of run-ins, emotion got the better of Massa, leading him to interrupt one of Hamilton’s interviews by slapping him aggressively on the shoulder and offering sarcastic congratulations on a great race.

Not satisfied with this childish outburst, he went on to tell anyone who would listen that Hamilton ruined his race and that Hamilton is a danger to himself and others.

And he’s not letting facts get in the way of a good story, either.

He is reported as saying, “He could have caused a big accident. He touched my wheel on a straight—300 kph, and he punctured my tires, so he destroyed my race.”

He does realise the race was televised and everyone saw the collision happen in the middle of Turn 7, one of the slowest corners on the track, doesn’t he?

The histrionics continued. "My thoughts are that, again, he cannot use his mind—even in qualifying."

While it is certainly true that Hamilton has had a bad year in terms of collisions and that he has crossed swords with Massa on a few occasions, he’s not the reason Massa’s career is in a downward spiral.

The incident in qualifying where Massa accused Hamilton of trying to pass at all costs was in reality Massa driving slower than everyone else in order to build a gap to accelerate into.

Nothing wrong with that, but he was holding Hamilton up and so Lewis tried to pass, at which point Massa accelerated to block him and then immediately slowed, while Hamilton completed the pass.

The animus between these two has its roots in the 2008 championship season where Hamilton managed to clinch the title from Massa by a single point on the final lap of the final race of the season.

Although their rivalry that year seemed good-natured, it did mark the high water mark for Massa’s career.

Since then his performances have been on the slide.

The 2009 season got off to a slow start with both himself and teammate Kimi Raikkonen struggling against the superior Brawn and Red Bull Machines.

He was then involved in the sickening accident in Hungary when he was hit in the helmet by a spring that had come loose from compatriot and friend Rubens Barrichello’s car in practice, which required a titanium plate to be fitted to his skull to make it strong enough for racing.

Since his comeback, he is a different driver.

Gone is the spark and flair of a guy who could lead the championship. He is slower, more risk averse and has been humiliated by his team and teammate and placed in a position of the Ferrari’s very clear No. 2 driver.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BEUVZXR18_4

Despite being in a very competitive car last year—his teammate took it to second place in the championship—he languished well behind the big five of Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel, Jenson Button, Fernando Alonso and Mark Webber.

This year he seems resigned to aiming for a top six finish—sometimes he even achieves it—but he’s coming into conflict with the faster drivers. He has yet to even come close to finishing on the podium.

In Australia, he held up Button for a long time. In Monaco, he famously held up a flying Hamilton until the two had their inevitable touch at the hairpin and Massa’s subsequent destruction in the tunnel.

It continued in Monza where Massa was holding up Webber until the two touched at the first chicane, spinning Massa and ultimately putting Webber out of the race.

And so we come to Singapore and we’re back to Massa complaining because the big boys play rough and he—or his race chances—ends up getting hurt.

At 30 years of age, Massa’s career should be far from over, but it’s difficult not to get the impression that his seat at Ferrari wouldn’t be better filled by a promising youngster than by a guy whose role has been reduced to a faithful sidekick.

He will not outlast Alonso, therefore Ferrari would be better served by blooding a new apprentice, someone who will take the team out beyond 2014/15.

Massa, meanwhile, is costing them points and contributing little. Where's the value in that?

It is a little sad to see a once-exciting driver struggling to stay competitive in a rapidly evolving sport, but even more so when they lash out at others to cover for their own inadequacies.

It's time for Massa to either accept he hasn't got what it takes and resign himself to finishing off the podium or get out of the sport. Anything else is just deluding himself.

Third position in the constructors' championship would indicate a highly successful season for most teams in the Formula One paddock. Ferrari, however, are slightly underwhelmed at being outside the top two teams in the 2011 standings.

The Italian team, who could only offer a third place podium position to their adoring Tifosi support in Monza, have publicly let it be known that development on this year's car has been stopped. The research and development teams will now focus on the 2012 season, and on putting the Ferrari name back at the top of F1.

"We have stopped the development," said Stefano Domenicali, Ferrari's team boss. "We were expecting a bigger step in our development in Spa. Unfortunately we discovered it was the opposite so we took a step back (in performance,) and that was also a step back for Monza."

Domenicali, who was recently told by Ferrari president, Luca di Montezemolo, that he would remain as team leader for 2012, has decided to re-focus on next season following a number of disappointing upgrades to the car.

The latest upgrade—a redesigned exhaust system—did not provide the team with the performance boost that they had planned for.

The hope is that by focusing considerable resources on next year's car, they can close the performance gap between themselves and the top two teams before the beginning of the 2012 season. 

That is certainly Di Montezemolo's intent: "Next year, I expect a competitive car with a clear interpretation of the rules. I hope to win the championship again." The demanding Ferrari president added that he was "not happy" with the way things have gone this season.

The race has already begun, away from the track, to develop a winning car for next season. Ferrari's biggest rivals, Red Bull and McLaren, have both started development on their new cars, and Ferrari will look to take bigger steps, faster. They certainly have the resources to do it.

Pat Fry, the former McLaren engineer, and his team, have already started work on the 2012 Ferrari. Expect to see big changes when the car is unveiled next year.

At the Belgian Grand Prix, Red Bull ran a level of camber which was above the recommended levels causing severe tyre blistering. There were concerns that this could increase the chance of tyre failure and going around corners such as Eau Rouge or Blanchimont if the tyres did fail, there could have been a huge accident.

This season, tyres have been one of the major factors in both qualifying and the race. Pirelli have done a fine job this year in creating tyres that degrade and make drivers and teams think extensively about strategy. It has been one of the major factors this year in creating some great racing. In years gone by, the choice of tyres has been split between companies as well as compounds of tyre.

In the years gone by we have had tyre wars between Goodyear and Bridgestone, Michelin and Bridgestone and we have also had many other companies such as Avon, Dunlop, Englebert, Continental and Firestone. But now things are back under one banner.

But in 2005 we had both Bridgestone and Michelin providing tyres for Formula 1. With Bridgestone supplying tyres for Ferrari, Jordan and Minardi and Michelin providing tyres for Mclaren, Toyota, Renault, BAR Honda, Sauber, Red Bull and BMW Williams. The Bridgestone tyres were not as good during most of the races in 2005, not providing the same amount of grip as the Michelins.

However, on one weekend the sport of Formula 1 became the laughing stock of the whole world. The weekend of the United States Grand Prix in 2005 will go down in history as one of the most bizarre, farcical and reputation-crushing in Formula 1's history. 

The whole saga began in Friday practice when Ralf Schumacher driving for Toyota had a left rear tyre failure going around the banking at turn 13. The nine-degree banking at turn 13 was unique to Formula 1 with no other track being used having such banking. Fortunately, Ralf did not suffer the same injuries that he suffered at the 2004 United States Grand Prix.  

However, Michelin began to study the tyres of Ralf Schumacher's Toyota as well as some of the other tyres being used by other teams. The tyres were found not to be able to withstand the loads being placed on them for anymore than a few laps perhaps able to do ten at most before they were at serious risk of tyre failure. 

Michelin began to look and see if they had any tyres that they could get across to Indianapolis that they could use that would be able to take the demands of the track. They didn't. Michelin immediately had to let both the teams and the FIA know that the tyres were simply too unsafe to be used under normal circumstance.

A number of suggestions were put forward in order to allow the Michelin teams to compete. The first of these was to install a tyre chicane at turn 13 to slow the cars down causing the load on the tyres to be reduced. A meeting between all the Michelin running teams and Paul Stoddart of Minardi and Colin Kolles of Jordan was organised. No Ferrari representative was asked to attend this meeting.

At this meeting, the team principals agreed to place a chicane at turn 13 in an attempt to allow the Michelin teams to race. However, the FIA led by Max Mosley refused this idea saying that the track could not be altered. Bernie Eccelstone also did talk to Jean Todt about this idea and Todt said had he be consulted, he wouldn't of accepted this idea. The FIA stated that the installation of a chicane would have been 'grossly unfair' to the Bridgestone teams.

The idea that the FIA put forward was the idea of speed limiting the Michelin cars but this would have been highly dangerous. If a Bridgestone car was approaching a slow moving Michelin, then the chances of a very serious crash was too high.

Michelin weren't allowed to bring any new tyres in and Michelin could only guarantee safety for 10 laps, so without multiple pit stops there was no chance of Michelin runners being able to compete safely.

Other solutions were put forward in this meeting. The idea of making a chicane at turn 13 that only Michelin runners had to use was one idea, so was the plan of making it a non-championship race. The idea was if it was designated a non-championship race, then people wouldn't push as hard, but knowing racing drivers their competitive instincts would take over, so it was turned down.

At this point the idea of revolution was spreading. The Michelin teams were saying if the FIA was going to stop them they would run the race without FIA approval or endorsement as well as not allowing Ferrari to compete to allow more compromise. They began to tell individuals if need be, they would take over various FIA roles to allow the race to continue.

Eventually, the revolution was cancelled and a statement for a further meeting was called for. At this meeting all 20 drivers were present and all possibilities were outlined and none of them managed to get unanimous approval. Both Ferrari drivers, Michael Schumacher and Rubens Barrichello, said nothing through the entire meeting apart from saying it was up to Jean Todt who had already made his feelings clear.,

It's also known that other drivers disagreed with some of the plans, but it is not known which drivers objected and which plans they objected to, but that did happen. At this point all options were exhausted. The FIA wouldn't approve track manipulation or making the race a non-championship event and other ideas were either too dangerous or not reasonable. Nothing else could be done.

It had become clear that Michelin runners wouldn't be to compete so it was then a question of do the Bridgestone competitors compete. At first Minardi seemed reluctant to compete and Jordan seemed to agree with them saying that they wouldn't compete. However, it soon became clear that Jordan were going to compete so Minardi needed to compete too in order to try and keep the fight between the two teams close.

The formation lap began with all 20 cars, but all of the Michelin runners pulled into the pits and retired leaving the six remaining Bridgestone runners. The biggest farce in Formula 1 was happening right in front of us.

This is the footage of the start of the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTg2rUx3xDM

The race was very processional with Schumacher and Barrichello going to possibly the easiest 1-2 finish ever. Tiago Monterio for Jordan was third, Karthikeyan fourth, Albers fifth and Freisacher sixth. The only person who seemed happy was Monterio who scored the first ever podium for a Portuguese driver, and despite everything, people were pleased for Tiago.

At the end of the race the autopsy began about who was to blame. Many people blamed the FIA and many also blamed Ferrari for not allowing a compromise to be found. But the truth was the people to blame were Michelin as they were the group who caused all of the problems in the first place.

If the tyres make for close racing, then people are always quick to praise them. In this case, the tyres made for a disaster and a weekend Formula 1 would rather forget.

This weekend, Fernando Alonso moved past Mark Webber in the standings after another podium finish at Monza.

The Spaniard is now sitting second in the championship order behind the unreachable Sebastian Vettel but ahead of the other Red Bull driver and the two Mclaren boys.

Meanwhile, Ferrari is only third in the Constructors’ Championship, trailing second-placed Mclaren by 71 points.

That says a lot about Fernando’s talent behind the wheel.

With 27 wins and two world championships under his belt, he is probably the most complete driver on the F1 grid today

However, it has been five years since he won his second title.

True, he had a couple of frustrating seasons returning at Renault but he could have clinched the crown when driving for Mclaren in 2007.

And he should have won last year. But a strategy mistake plagued his race in Abu Dhabi and enabled Vettel to seize the momentum.

Fernando has been driving very fine races in 2011, including the latest one where he took a feisty start.

But the reigning world champion and his Red Bull have been on a league of their own this season.

The Spaniard will then have to wait yet another year to have a shot at the victor’s laurels.

Alonso’s situation echoes Michael Schumacher’s when the latter was driving for Ferrari.

The German legend fell tantalizingly close of a third title in 1997 and 1998 and was sidelined by a leg injury in 1999.

When he eventually broke the spell at the turn of the century, he never looked back and went on to win five titles in a row.

Will Alonso be able to add to his impressive tally in similar fashion?

Michael was 31 in 2000 and Fernando turned 30 earlier this summer, so he still has plenty of time to enhance his future legacy.

Earlier this season, the man from Oviedo extended his contract with Ferrari until 2016 and recently pledged to bring another title to the Scuderia before he hangs up his helmet.

However, the current crop of drivers are much stronger than the one Michael was dealing with in the early 2000s.

Mika Hakkinen was cruising to retirement, David Coulthard was a solid driver but he never was a real threat and Juan-Pablo Montoya was too hot-headed and inconsistent to challenge Schumi’s hegemony.

In Maranello, Alonso enjoys the same perks as Michael did.

He receives unwavering support from the team and the Tifosis, has a clear No. 1 driver status and partners a faithful, albeit dispirited, teammate.

All the ingredients are thus gathered for the Spaniard to be in the title hunt again in the future.

Ferrari just needs to give Fernando a slightly better car and he will take care of the rest.