Felipe Massa had an eight-year long stint at Ferrari and partnered up with three world champions during his time in Maranello.
Fernando Alonso, Felipe Massa, and Michael Schumacher (Via: Imago)
Ferrari is the most prestigious F1 team worldwide. However, only a few drivers have been a part of the team’s history, and it includes the Brazillian driver, Felipe Massa. During his time in Maranello, the 43-year-old raced alongside multiple world champions, but he has now admitted that he had lots of trouble racing against Fernando Alonso in comparison to Michael Schumacher.
The seven-time world champion, Michael Schumacher joined Ferrari after winning his second world championship in 1995. The German restored the win drought at Maranello and won five consecutive world championships from 2000-04. However, during the last leg of his tenure with the Italian squad, he was paired up with Felipe Massa who was poised to take on the leadership role after the former world champion’s retirement.
In the following years, Massa was paired up with Kimi Raikkonen and Fernando Alonso. Which relegated him to being the second driver within the team.
I think that during that stage, I suffered a lot more with Alonso than with Michael , for example. With Schumacher, it was a great situation in which Ferrari was investing a lot in a young driver like today and he was in the final stretch of his career in Formula 1 and also at Ferrari.Felipe Massa said in an interview with UOL Esporte
Observing the different results with his former teammates, the Brazillian revealed that he used to struggle more when paired alongside Alonso than with Schumacher. Moreover, during his time with the Spaniard, he barely managed to score half of his points while Alonso was a championship contender and winning races.
With 32 wins under his belt, Alonso left Maranello and moved to McLaren. However, his hopes of winning his 33rd career victory remained pale as he battled with inferior machinery. Despite this, the Spaniard has been at the top of his game and has witnessed multiple generations of drivers race with him.
Fernando Alonso (via IMAGO)
Owing to his experience, he was able to spot differences between the drivers of the past generation and that of the current.
Definitely, there are some differences, I think the older generation were a bit more genuine. Different in character, in the way they approached racing and life. They were very tough competitors. Now, I would say that they are very talented — maybe more than before because of all the preparation… But off-track or with the helmet off, maybe they are a bit the same and more shy in the way they approach things. They have people who talk for them, for management, for media, for fitness. Fernando Alonso said in an interview with Financial Times
Alonso claimed that the older generation was a bit more genuine. He later expanded on his point and claimed that though the newer generation of drivers are more prepared on track, they lack soft s𝓀𝒾𝓁𝓁s off track which hampers their progress as a person.
Despite his concerns, the newer generation has seemingly taken over F1. On the other hand, with a title fight developing between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen, the fan-following around F1 is greater than ever!
