I’ll have a very strong teammate - Massa

A serene and motivated Felipe Massa spoke to the press during the conference at the presentation of the F10. The first question was about the 2010 rules, which alter the approach to the races noticeably: “How do you think the races will look like with the new rules?”

“We’ll start with less petrol into the weekend, while we will start into the race with enough petrol for the whole distance. Then there are other details, such as the points assigned to the first and second in the races. Having all these changes in mind we have to pay a lot of attention and learn rapidly in terms of strategy and, as far as I am concerned, regarding driving the car to be immediately competitive.“

Massa should have driven the F10 at its debut in the afternoon, but the weather conditions weren’t right. So the Brazilian driver spoke about his enormous contribution to the single-seater’s development: “Many things happened in 2009, resulting in difficult conditions for us to work on the car. We started very early thinking about 2010. We were asking for many modifications not just regarding aerodynamics, but also the engine and the tank. Everything was really important considering the 2010 rules. What’s very important is that every single detail can bring tenths of a second.”

Another topic were the great expectations regarding his teammate Fernando Alonso: “The expectations as far as my teammate is concerned I’ve been living for many years now. When there’s a new driver at Ferrari there are great expectations and the goal is to work well as a team, to be complete. I’ll have a very strong teammate. I’ve always done good work, learned a lot, shown many times that I’m able to win and fight, whoever my teammate was. Michael is a friend and I learned a lot from him, but on the track we’ll be competitors. Although we’ll have a good relationship, as always. I’m happy that he’s cheering for me.”

The journalists also wanted to talk about Massa’s accident last year: “I had a really unbelievable accident. But naturally safety is something we’re working on every single day. We have to continue like this and there will be much more work to do also amongst us drivers and on the tracks to improve. On a personal level I’m happy that with everything that happened nothing has changed in my work.”

In the end there was a private question: what is more exciting: the baptism of the F10 or the upcoming one of your son?

“Felipinho was born in November and it was an incredible feeling. I’m so proud and happy. This here today is a different child: the F10; we have to let it grow rapidly and lift it to a higher level. What we can see here today is the result of many months of hard work on the car, let’s hope that we’ll be competitive right from the start.”

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