Ask the Expert - Ferrari's Felipe Massa 17 Sep 2009
Which driver clinched Ferrari’s first Formula One win at the 1951 British Grand Prix? How tall are the towers of Sao Paulo’s See Metropolitan Cathedral? How many goals did Brazilian football great Pele score during his professional career? How many points did Michael Schumacher accrue?
These are just some of the questions we thought Ferrari’s Felipe Massa would take in his stride after he agreed to participate in our personal trivia test, ‘Ask the Expert’...
Q: Ferrari’s famous Prancing Horse was inspired by which flying Italian Count?
Felipe Massa: If I remember correctly, his name was Count Baracca. Enzo Ferrari and his brother Dino I think had some sort of personal relationships to the Baraccas.
Correct - Count Francesco Baracca, an Italian Air Force ace during World War One, used to paint a horse on the side of his planes.
Q: Your first Formula One team mate was Nick Heidfeld at Sauber. How many F1 podiums has Heidfeld scored?
FM: Oh la la la la, let me see… it must be 11 or 12.
Correct - 12.
Q: You clinched your first F1 podium at the 2006 European Grand Prix, after finishing third. Who else was on the podium with you at that race?
FM: It was Michael, Alonso and me.
Correct - Renault’s Fernando Alonso finished second and Ferrari’s Michael Schumacher won the race.
Q: How tall are the towers of Sao Paulo’s See Metropolitan Cathedral?
FM: Between 90 and 100 metres?
Correct - 92 metres to be exact.
Q: In 2000 you won the Formula Renault 2.0 Euro championship with 140 points. Which current Formula One driver failed to score even half of your points’ tally?
FM: Kimi.
Correct - Ferrari team mate Kimi Raikkonen scored 62 points.
Q: Ferrari have won the most Formula One constructors’ championships - 16 to be exact. Which team is second in the ranking and how many titles have they won?
FM: Williams - I don’t know how many titles.
One point - it was indeed Williams, who have nine championships.
Q: How many goals - to the nearest ten - did Brazilian football great Pele score during his professional career?
FM: 1250… something around that?
Close but not close enough - the total was 1281.
Q: You were famously paired with Michael Schumacher at Ferrari. How many points - to the nearest 50 - did the German legend score over the course of his Formula One career?
FM: I remember seeing that lately. It must be around 1350. It was something like 100 points more than Pele scored goals.
Correct - 1369
Q: One of your favourite actors is Robert de Niro. How many times has De Niro been nominated for an Oscar and how many times has he won?
FM: Nominated I don’t know. But he got the Oscar for The Godfather and Raging Bull, the story about the boxer.
One out of two - he was nominated six times, and as Massa said, won twice for Raging Bull and The Godfather, Part II.
Q: You won the Lorenzo Bandini trophy in 2007. Who won the award the following year?
FM: Kubica
Correct - BMW Sauber’s Robert Kubica
Q: You are a fan of The Killers. Whereabouts in America are the band from?
FM: I don’t know - I just like their music.
Incorrect - they actually hail from Las Vegas, Nevada.
Q: Twenty-eight Brazilians have competed in Formula One racing, but including yourself, only six have won races. Can you name the other five?
FM: Yes, I can. Barrichello, Senna, Piquet, Fittipaldi and Pace.
Correct - Rubens Barrichello, Emerson Fittipaldi, Carlo Pace, Nelson Piquet and Ayrton Senna.
Q: Your first Formula One race ended in retirement on the first lap after a huge collision. Apart from you, how many other drivers failed to make it to the second lap of the 2002 Australian Grand Prix after being embroiled in that accident?
FM: Many! How could I ever forget that race! My guess is seven.
Correct - it was indeed seven - Ferrari’s Rubens Barrichello Barrichello, Williams’ Ralf Schumacher, Jordan’s Giancarlo Fisichella, Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, Renault’s Jenson Button, Honda’s Olivier Panis and Toyota’s Allan McNish.
Q: Massa is a town in which region of Italy?
FM: Tuscany
Correct
Q: Which driver clinched the first Ferrari Formula One win at the 1951 British Grand Prix?
FM: Ascari or Farina?
Incorrect it was actually Jose Froilan Gonzalez.
Q: According to your website, you’ve amassed a huge collection of jeans. In what American state was Levi Strauss’s business based?
FM: California
Correct
Q: How many points, wins and pole positions have you scored so far during your Formula One career?
FM: Poles: 15, victories: 11. Points? I don’t know exactly… it must be something over 300.
Two out of three - it’s 320 points to be precise.
Q: You’re an avid shopper at Dolce and Gabbana. In which Italian city was Domenico Dolce born?
FM: Milan? No? But he lives in Milan. Ah wasn’t he born in Sicily? I don’t know.
Close but not close enough - Palermo, Sicily.
Q: What is the best Grand Prix result your fellow Brazilian Nelson Piquet clinched, and at what race did he score it?
FM: I know, because I was on the podium with him. He was second at the German Grand Prix at Hockenheim last year.
Correct
Q: As well as supporting Sao Paulo FC, you’re a fan of Turkish football team Fenerbahce S.K. In what position did the team finish the 2008/09 season?
FM: They’ve been pretty bad. Fourth or fifth?
Correct - they finished fourth.
Final score: 23 points from a possible 30
Ask the Expert rating: 77%
Current leader board:
1. Heikki Kovalainen - 86%
2. Mark Webber - 84%
3= Lewis Hamilton - 80%
3= Kimi Raikkonen - 80%
5. Felipe Massa - 77%
6= Kazuki Nakajima - 73%
6= Jaime Alguersuari - 73%
8. Sebastien Buemi - 72%
9. Robert Kubica - 70%
10. Jenson Button - 69%
11. Giancarlo Fisichella - 68%
12. Nico Rosberg - 66%
13= Sebastian Vettel - 64%
13= Rubens Barrichello - 64%
15= Jarno Trulli - 58%
15= Timo Glock - 58%
17. Nick Heidfeld - 57%
18. Adrian Sutil - 54%
More drivers coming soon.
