The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Resurgent Massa happy to keep Alonso at bay Posted: 23 Mar 2013 06:23 AM PDT  Ferrari Formula One driver Felipe Massa of Brazil smiles after finishing second in the qualifying session for the Malaysian F1 Grand Prix. — Reuters picSEPANG, March 23 — Ferrari's Felipe Massa is fast becoming the renaissance man of Formula One after a strong start to 2013 following signs of improvement at the end of last year. Massa's seat came under intense pressure last season but the Italian team's decision to retain his services appears to be bearing fruit as he out-qualified team mate Fernando Alonso for a fourth straight race at the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday. The 31-year-old Brazilian made full use of a late stop for fresh intermediate tyres on a drying Sepang Circuit to claim second spot on the grid behind Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, pushing Alonso back to third with his first front row start since 2010. "I feel comfortable in the car. I think whenever you feel comfortable you can do a good lap and you can use the car to the maximum, it's possible," said Massa, who qualified and finished fourth in the season-opening race in Melbourne last weekend. "It was really clear that I was not comfortable last year and the year before, so many things around the car, bad luck, around myself as well, so there were so many things that were not working in the proper direction, but now they are." Massa finished second to Lewis Hamilton in the 2008 drivers' championship but suffered a serious head injury when hit by debris at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix, missing the rest of the season. He has struggled to rediscover his best form since but managed podium finishes in Japan and Brazil in the second half of last year. "I know how quick I can be, I've showed that many times in the past. If everything works well, we can be competitive, it's pretty sure about that," he added. "I believe in myself and I think it can be really important for the team, for Fernando as well, for everybody. We need a stronger team, a strong position and fighting for the best position in every race so I'm happy, that's a good direction." Domenicali praise Team principal Stefano Domenicali was quick to heap praise on Massa and was happy to see the team's confidence in the driver being rewarded. "That's what I want, and that's what I said since last year when everyone was pushing me to do something different," the Italian said. "But I am happy for him and for the team because as always, we think as a team." Alonso had seemed to be waging a lone war against the Red Bulls in recent years but the Spaniard said Massa had not been as far off the pace as results had suggested. "I've been racing 27 years now in motor racing - I'm getting old - so it's not the first time that we have very close competition," the 31-year-old double champion told reporters. "It was very close the last three years as well, but I know that for you, it was not that close in terms of results because Felipe had some bad luck, some incidents sometimes, some mechanical problems other times but the last three years was much closer than it looked in the points at the end." — Reuters |
| Vettel makes most of timely tyre change Posted: 23 Mar 2013 05:08 AM PDT  Red Bull Formula One driver Vettel of Germany celebrates taking the pole position for Malaysian F1 GP at Sepang International Circuit. — Reuters picSEPANG, March 23 — Sebastian Vettel tip-toed through the early stages of qualifying for the Malaysian Grand Prix on Saturday before blasting to pole position at a rain-hit Sepang Circuit with a well-timed change of tyres. Red Bull's triple world champion secured the 38th pole of his Formula One career after opting for a new set of intermediates on a drying track to hold off the twin Ferrari threat of Felipe Massa and Fernando Alonso, who adopted a similar strategy. After the disappointment of Melbourne a week ago, when he dominated qualifying in the season-opening race before finishing third behind Kimi Raikkonen's Lotus and Alonso, Vettel was careful with his tyres on Saturday. "It was an interesting qualifying session. We knew that rain was the on the way and to be honest we expected some at the beginning of qualifying but it didn't come," he told reporters. The German drove conservatively in the early phases of qualifying and was ninth towards the end of the second phase when the first drops of rain prevented anyone from improving on their times and the top 10 advanced to the final round. "Obviously I think we had a bit of a different approach to other people. Q2 was quite on edge I would say, so probably the rain helped us a little bit. Otherwise I think we would have had to go out again. But in that case it was just enough to go through to the final phase," he said. "Then in Q3 with the circuit drying, it was clear it was better to change tyres. "We confirmed that pretty early. I think we did the right thing. Very tricky because you don't know if there's more rain coming or not, but we took the decision." The rain held off and Vettel eased ahead of early pace-setter Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes before watching Massa claim second place and Alonso third, although both Ferraris were almost a second behind. "I'm a bit surprised by the gap but it was a decent lap and I was very happy obviously. It was quite tricky because some parts of the track were still wet and others were dry but overall a very good session for us," he added. "We managed to save some tyres, which could be crucial tomorrow, so we'll see what we can do." Team mate Mark Webber will start in fifth place but the Australian cut a dejected figure after he was unable to set a final flying lap as he ran out of time due to a misunderstanding. "I think we got out of the car what we could have done, on the laps when I was pushing," he said. "Then we basically didn't push when the track was at its quickest because we thought we had a bit more time - well, I thought I had more time and more laps to play with. "At the end, I got the red light when I went over for the last lap. Frustrating, that's the way it goes sometimes. We're fifth and I can still race from there." — Reuters |
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