Massa travels to Germany after busy programme
For the ninth round of the 2009 FIA Formula One World Championship season, the Formula One teams travel to the Nurburgring in the heart of the Eifel Mountains to the west of Germany for the European Grand Prix. Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has had a busy programme and will travel to Germany today for another exciting race weekend.
Felipe Massa: “I arrived back in Europe earlier this week, having spent the longer than usual break since the last race, at home in Sao Paulo. It was an enjoyable time, but rather quiet, as I just wanted to enjoy spending some time with my wife, who is pregnant, expecting our first child in November. Perfect timing from us for the baby to arrive conveniently after the end of the Formula 1 season! Everything is going well and it is a nice feeling knowing I am soon going to be a “papà.” Apart from that, I took part in a karting race with some friends. It was nothing serious, just some fun, driving a small 125 cc kart. Well, with an extra week in between the Grands Prix I had to get some racing done!
“I’m in Maranello at the factory at the moment, then this afternoon (Wednesday) I am travelling to Germany because I am playing a football match for the Nazionale Piloti team, with some other F1 drivers and some guy called Michael Schumacher. The game takes place in Wiesbaden, so I hope a good crowd turns out, as we are playing for charity as usual. I play up front as a striker and if you ask me if I am any good, I would say that, for a racing driver, I’m quite a good football player, but there is no new career waiting!
“Here in Maranello, I have been taking part in the presentation of a new car, the Ferrari 599 XX, which is used in a similar programme as the FXX one, where owners can actually contribute to the technical development of this “laboratory car,” running it with full factory support at various race tracks. I did quite a few laps with it on the Fiorano track and, as my brother and father are here with me, I was able to give them some exciting moments in the passenger seat. It’s a great car and fun to drive.
“On Thursday I will arrive at the Nurburgring and I’m looking forward to getting behind the wheel of the F60 again. The layout of this track should suit it better than the fast corners of Silverstone. A lot will depend on how we get the tyres to work and even if we have some new components that Kimi and I will be trying on Friday, it is impossible to say at this stage what we can expect from the weekend. The first half of the season was very hard to predict and I don’t see why it should be any different as we go into the second half.”
