Now that Felipe Massa has appeared at the top of the Drivers Championship table, it would be a good moment to consider where he fits in relative to his peers. He has been a revelation to many over the last eighteen months or so and Martin Brundle has declared him to be the dark horse for the title this year.
Felipe Massa
Brazilian Massa, 27, who drives for Ferrari, "made major errors" at the start of the season. But "on his day Massa is immense", Brundle added.
"We saw him deliver his almost customary victories at Bahrain and Turkey, but it was generally accepted that over the course of the season Raikkonen would be the one to put in the critical fast laps around the pit-stop window, get to the front and control the race.
"Yet Massa has apparently upped his game yet further this year."
That is pretty much the general opinion on Massa at this stage - Martin is effectively saying what we already know, that Massa did not look great at the beginning of the season but has come good since then. It does not help me in my quest to understand why most of us have doubts about his ability to become champion.
Is it that he somehow does not look the part, with his cherubic face and disgruntled expression? Or is it the number of mistakes he makes along the way? I am unconvinced by the first explanation, believing that champions look like champions once they have achieved the deed, and the second is unfair to say the least, considering that the other contenders (except Kubica) have made just as many mistakes this season. So why do we still consider him a dark horse, an outsider who just might steal the title at the last?
I think it is time for a little heresy here; I make this suggestion purely as conjecture and knowing that it flies in the face of received wisdom. Is it possible that the Ferrari is a much better car than we suspect and that both of its drivers are less able than we believe? I have said before that my faith in Kimi Raikkonen is severely shaken and this would explain why he has been unable to assert himself as number one in the Ferrari camp.
But that applies to Massa as well - if Kimi cannot subdue him, neither can the Brazilian put his superiority beyond doubt. It begins to look like a struggle between equals, Massa generally quicker in testing and qualifying, Raikkonen usually with the edge in actual racing. When we look back to Michael Schumacher's time at Ferrari, it becomes clear that, had he stayed on when Kimi arrived, the anticipated battle between greats would have turned out to be no contest at all and Michael would have added a few more titles to his tally.
Yes, I know all the usual arguments about Michael having the team in his pocket but the fact remains that he was an outstanding driver, undoubtedly one of the best of his era. He taught Massa a lot, probably enough to ensure that Raikkonen's life would not be easy, but he was always the quicker driver. Our conclusion must be surely that he would have seen Kimi off too.
There is a strong possibility, therefore, that Ferrari do not have the best drivers at the moment. I am no Alonso fan but am pretty sure that, given a Ferrari, he would be champion this season; and the same might apply to younger drivers like Hamilton and Kubica. Kimi scraped through to the championship last year on the mistakes of others and we all felt that he deserved it - but only thanks to his many years of gutsy performances in a McLaren that was rarely the best car.
The theory fits the circumstances rather well, I think, and explains our doubts regarding Massa's real abilities. He is quick on his day, yes, but the lurking suspicion in the back of our minds must be that Alonso would be quicker all the time. That Spanish guy has proved over and over again that he can get a second rate car up amongst the best; now that Hamilton is falling out of favor, we begin to see Alonso's performance last year in a rather different light, giving more credit to his work with the engineers than we did before. In a Ferrari, he would be unbeatable.
So perhaps we are right to doubt Massa, although I think we should include Kimi in our suspicions. Our indecision over Massa's abilities is possibly the result of our awareness that Michael would have done more with the equipment. Couple that with our dislike of drivers championships being won through car superiority alone and it may be that we approach the reality of the situation.
Who knows? It's a theory, that is all, and I offer it as the starting point for a good argument, the sort of thing that can never be proved one way or the other. But I do know that, if I were Luca, I would be offering a secret test for Alonso down at Fiorano...