Q+A with Felipe Massa
On the ending day of the Hockenheim test, Ferrari driver Felipe Massa reflects on what happened last weekend at the British GP, along with how he believes his team will fare at the GP being held at the this very same circuit in a weeks time.
While he also recognizes that his teams main rivals are not to be disregarded, and that mistakes such as the ones in Silverstone need to be eliminated without further thought. Autosport.com had a chat with the Brazilian:
Do you like the Hockenheim track?Felipe Massa: "Yeah, it's a good track, and it's the track we're going to be racing at next week. It's always very important to prepare ourselves to come here so that everything will be set for the beginning of the weekend."
Lewis Hamilton was very quick here earlier in the week. Are you worried about his performance ahead of the race weekend?FM: "For sure not. They are quick, but we can be quick as well. We don't look just at lap times; we look at many other things that we are working on, and that is the most important thing. Today there was another McLaren driver on the track and the performance looked a little bit different, so maybe they are doing different things. They are also doing different stuff than we are doing - so we cannot say that they are quicker."
With all the ups and downs you have had this year, do you think Hockenheim could be a track that suits the Ferrari?FM: "I hope so. I think Ferrari have a good car here at this track, and I had a great race in 2006 here as well, so hopefully we can have a great race on Sunday."
You had at least five spins in the British Grand Prix. Were they just errors or did you have a problem?FM: "For sure the first spin was a mistake, definitely, but then every time I was on the track we had the wrong tyres for the conditions. So I cannot say it was just coming from myself; it was coming from our strategy too. We made so many mistakes anyway at Silverstone – we know that, and we are working in every area to not repeat them. It's part of the game. We're not the only team that has made mistakes this year.
"It's part of the game, and we need to concentrate on the next race. The championship is open, we are still in front in the Constructors' Championship, and so it's nothing to worry about at the moment."
Some people say you struggle more than Kimi with the loss of traction control this year – what do you say about that?FM: "I don't care what other people say to be honest. I know what I have to do, I've won many races this year, and so I don't really care for that."
Thanks to mx_tifosi
