Saturday, July 12, 2008

Q and A with Felipe Massa

Fresh from his disastrous British Grand Prix, Felipe Massa got back into the swing of things with the fastest time during testing at Hockenheim on Thursday.

Well aware that the fight between his team and McLaren appears closer than ever, the Brazilians knows that Ferrari cannot afford a repeat of the troubles they suffered at Silverstone.

Autosport.com heard what Massa had to say about Silverstone, the test and his feelings for next week's German Grand Prix when he met reporters.

Q. Do you like the Hockenheim track?

Q and A with Felipe Massa

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.

Q. 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.

Q. 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.

Q. 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.

Q. 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.



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