ALONSO HELP MASSA?

He will help me, I know it..

There are some things in life you know for sure (BTW "for sure" is the most used term in F1, for sure this , for sure that). Things such as income tax or the prices of goods, these things only go up. If you were to tell someone in a conversation over breakfast that these things were going to come down and that you're very sure of it (for sure), you might end up finishing that breakfast alone. 99% would not believe you.

Some things are just like that "for sure", meant to be. Today we have Felipe Massa telling us that:

We are fighting for two titles and I am sure the team will help me if it turns out that my situation was the same as the one that meant Fernando was a contender these past years.

Ok I admit that was a bit of a gobbledy gook. Felipe baby, you must learn to form better sentences. Basically, what he was trying to say was that this season, if he (Felipe) was in a position that Alonso was i.e. leading the championship, the team would help him (Felipe) instead of Alonso. He is saying that Ferrari has a new philosophy this year - driver equality.

There are some things in F1 we know "for sure" such as Alonso, Vettel and Hamilton will win races this year and there are some things in F1 we know is not, such as Marussia winning by beating Red Bull to the line or Bernie giving $500 million to charity or Helmut Marko telling Vettel to give way to Webber or Ferrari telling Alonso to give way to Massa (like Massa gave way for Alonso).

I'm sorry but after seeing how things work at Ferrari for the last 15 years especially since Alonso arrived, I don't think that will happen. Can you imagine Luca saying that yes, this year we will support Massa so much that if he happens to be infront of Alonso in the championship by Texas, we'll break the seal on Alonso's gearbox just for Massa?

Here are some interesting feedback from F1 fans on that:

Bullfrog (@bullfrog) - I would look up and point at the pigs if they were flying.

Tyler (@tdog) - The first race hasn’t started and already we have a contender for funniest line of the season.

Robbie (@robbie) - It’s a lovely thought, FM, and I would love it if it were so, but they didn’t hire FA so you could win the WDC. Did you not read the same stuff the world has read? Ferrari is only interested in one rooster. You will be driving FA’s car again in 2013, and you will somehow have to absolutely trounce FA, in his car, from race one, for any chance whatsoever of them favouring you over FA. Anything else, and even early season strength vs. FA will not be enough to dissuade them from their philosophy. They’ll just tweak things to ensure FA has the upper hand, moreso than he starts the season having. And you know that is the case. But we understand, for your fans and yourself, you probably should say what you are saying.

Honestly, what do I think? Honestly, any team wants to win both titles. They need both drivers to score points for the team at every race. But only one driver can win the drivers title. If one driver is leading so far ahead that it is mathematically impossible for the other driver to beat, then the team will focus their efforts on the leading driver.

The following driver has to do his bit then to support the leading driver but at the same time making sure he scores as many points as possible to secure the constructors championship. This is the normal and accepted logic in F1. Some teams might have a different approach, they might say something but do something else. We can only tell from their behavior.

And Ferrari's behavior for some time now has pointed to the fact that they don't want to have 2 roosters ruling the roost. So I'm afraid Felipe, your imagination has played tricks on you. Unless you thrash Alonso so badly from race 1 all the way to halfway through the season, Luca might change his mind. Although he does not sound like he will any time soon.

Since I returned to Ferrari in 1991, I have always said that the drivers did not run for themselves, but for Ferrari. Where one can win, the other must help. Whoever does not like it, I do not care. Others are critical, but they do the same, albeit through less transparent means.

 F1 is a tough business Felipe. Good luck.

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