F1 without Ferrari would not be a nice situation - Massa
Felipe Massa entered the paddock as King of Istanbul, with his amazing three consecutive wins. So when he faced the media, the first question was whether he can keep his crown given the current pecking order among the teams.
“For sure we showed a great improvement in the last race and in fact from two races ago in Barcelona we made a big step,” began Massa. “We still need to improve to fight for the wins, and it would be fantastic if that in fact we have done enough to win here. If not, then we will all work hard to continue to improve the car. I don’t think we can say yet that we are the second best team in the field because we have only been ahead of Red Bull in one race. We need to finish races in front of them and maybe even in front of Brawn. This race will be very competitive, another difficult race, with Brawn being very strong, while Red Bull is very good at this type of track, with high speed corners. But we have some new parts on our car, which could give us some extra performance, so I am hoping we can make another step forward and be in the fight for the win. The biggest changes since Melbourne on the car have been first and foremost the new diffuser and then the general aerodynamic package of the car, as well as other details.
“I think it would be fantastic to win here for a fourth time in a row, as doing it three teams has already been fantastic, so four would be a dream,” he continued. “I don’t know what the secret is of why I go well here. I feel very comfortable here and in the few tracks where most of the corners go to the left, I am always very competitive. Apart from here in Istanbul, I am always very competitive in Brazil and in Singapore I took pole, six tenths of a second quicker than anyone else. Maybe my brain is strange and it works better on left hand corners! If I could win here on Sunday, it would be very special, to win this race four times in a row, because of all the problems we’ve had so far this season. I do feel we have a chance to win, although a difficult chance to make reality.”
With the very future of the sport of Formula 1 in doubt, Massa was keen to stress his loyalty to the Scuderia when asked what would happen if Ferrari pulled out of F1. “I am a Ferrari driver and I have a contract for one more year and so I hope the team will still be in Formula 1 next year. If it is not, then we need to understand what the situation will be if Formula 1 exists next year without Ferrari and other teams. We need to wait and see what’s going to be the outcome of the meetings. If it happened that Ferrari was not in F1, then maybe I get a one year holiday or drive for them in another championship. I hope everything will sort itself out, because Formula 1 without Ferrari and other big teams would not be a nice situation.”
Tough times can teach valuable lessons, and Felipe could think of one lesson he’s taken on board so far this year. “I learned it’s much easier to control the race when you start from pole position than from the middle of the grid,” he laughed. “It can be tough when you see other cars are better than yours, so even if you give the maximum of yourself, it is not enough.”
As to the championship, Felipe was keen to stress that whatever the mathematics, he was planning on pushing hard all the way to the end of the race in Abu Dhabi. “I’m not the type of guy who gives up easily and I will fight until the last corner of the last race, but in my experience, it is impossible to believe that Brawn can lose this championship. But even though we are a long way behind, it does not mean we will not be fighting to win every race right to the end of the season. We will try and win as many races as possible this year, not just me of course, but the whole team will be fighting to the end. At the moment, mathematically the title is still possible, but it’s quite difficult.”
