Interview With Felipe Massa
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Sep 12, 2008
Shell
Question: Felipe, your feelings about how the car is suited to this circuit?
Felipe Massa: It is a track which is completely different to any other track for how you prepare your car in terms of aerodynamics. I think we had quite a good test. I really hope that we can be very competitive. McLaren showed for sure a very good performance on the test and also last year, so it will be a big competition for sure. But I think we are in the right direction in terms of preparing for this race and see if we can start on Friday and Saturday morning with a reasonable set up.
Question: Would rain help you?
Felipe Massa: We have seen many times this year that in the rain we lost a little bit of performance, so maybe it would be nice not to have the rain here and not have any opportunity to have a consistent race.
Question: Is it a circuit that you like?
Felipe Massa: Yeah, I really like the circuit. As I said I had a great memory in the other categories, in Formula Renault, in Formula 3000, I always had very strong races here. Unfortunately in Formula One… last year it could have been a second place. We were doing a good race but then I had a mechanical problem in the car. I like the track and I am really motivated and optimistic that we can do a good job this weekend.
Question: Felipe, Lewis has just remarked that despite what happened and the penalty in Spa, that he’s coming here on a high, he feels like he’s coming here as a race winner. I’m just wondering if, from your perspective, do you feel the same thing, that you’re coming here as a race winner, even though the win was effectively handed to you by the stewards?
Felipe Massa: To be honest, I’ve given my ideas on this many times about what happened. What’s happened is that he took an advantage by cutting the chicane. You can ask other drivers how many overtaking manoeuvres you see there: no overtaking. Going from the last corner to the first corner is such a small straight, so he took an advantage, that’s clear, that’s my opinion, so it doesn’t change.
Question: How do you see the championship battle here shaping up for you in the last five races?
Felipe Massa: I see it as being pretty competitive. I think when you see that there is a two points’ difference and we have five races ahead of us, everything is really completely open. We have 50 points (available) in the championship which is quite a big number of points, compared to the difference, so the battle is hundred percent open. We saw this year that you have some races where maybe Ferrari was a little bit better. You had other races where perhaps McLaren were a little bit better. It’s really difficult to make a clear comment on which track we maybe can have an advantage or not, or maybe if we have an advantage or if they have an advantage. I think it will be very competitive all through the races.
