I can return to fight for the crown - Massa

Felipe Massa is now the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro veteran. Since the farewell to Luca Badoer, the Brazilian driver is the man with the longest service for the red team. Under contract with Maranello since 2001, Felipe is now in his sixth season as an official Ferrari driver.

“My target for this season is simple: to win races and to fight for the title,” said Massa. “I know that things didn’t go well last year but that is the past. I believe I can return to fight for the crown and I have nothing else in my mind. I am happy to start the year here at Wrooom: it’s a very enjoyable week. As I’ve now been coming here for so long, I’ve also learnt to appreciate snow, something that we Brazilians don’t see very often. I’ve always enjoyed skiing because I did in on water when I was young. Here I’ve also learned how to do it on snow.”

On the causes of his difficulties last season, the Brazilian driver explained: “I was never comfortable with the tyres, in particular the front ones. I didn’t manage to adapt my driving style to those tyres, which were very different to the ones from 2009. That took its toll, especially in qualifying and when the available compounds were the hardest ones. There were never problems with motivation, not even after a difficult weekend like Hockenheim.

"Fernando was better than me but I know my potential and I know that the team believes in me. In the past I’ve always had very strong team-mates, like Michael and Kimi, but I’d never found myself in a situation of not being comfortable with the car, as I had in 2010. The critics? They haven’t hurt me, what troubled me was not having the results I wanted.”