Q: Felipe, obviously last weekend was a bit of a funny one. What are your own feelings looking back?
Felipe MASSA: I feel something is missing. The first weekend, in Australia, I wasn’t very lucky and then last weekend I didn’t get a very good start and for sure that was my biggest problem. After that it was just a normal race. I had a chance to try to pass Lewis – and I’m not disappointed that I tried. I couldn’t manage it, but that wasn’t the worst point of the race. That was definitely the start. We see in racing that it’s very hard to pass and most drivers were sitting behind other cars without any chance to overtake. I saw a chance and I tried. Looking at the pace of Lewis at the beginning of the race, it was my only chance to get the race back. I didn’t want to just sit there and wait and finish on the podium, even if it was better than finishing fifth. I took a risk and tried to get the race back. To finish the question, I think something is missing because we have been unlucky in the last two races, so now hopefully we can put everything together.
Q: Some people might say your lack of pace in the last race was a consequence of the change in floor regulations. Is that something you noticed?
FM: For sure not. We tried the new regulation in pre-race testing and the car was exactly the same.
Q: So what are your feelings about this race?
FM: Absolutely positive. We had a very good test here at the start of the season and had a good pace. The car was behaving quite well. That’s a positive. I think we have a good car, a good package and a good team. If something was missing in the first two races, well, it was only two races and there is still a long way to go. Hopefully we can put everything together to be successful next time.
QUESTIONS FROM THE FLOOR
Q: (Peter Windsor – Speed TV) Felipe, you say the problem was at the start, but actually what happened at the first corner; obviously Fernando got past but were you also worried about Kimi at that point?
FM: No, actually Kimi was quite safely behind so I saw Fernando, I was for sure more worried about Fernando and in the first corner I just lost the line a little bit as well and then I just gave space for Lewis and that was also the second problem. But the first problem, for sure, was looking to Fernando who was completely beside me but he was inside. I even tried to brake late but when you are inside it’s much easier. I think the first part of the start was quite good, but as we were pulling up through the gears Fernando was getting closer and closer and then suddenly he was beside me so I was looking at him.
Q: (Peter Windsor – Speed TV) As a follow-up to that, when you were behind Nick Heidfeld for so long, how did the two cars compare, particularly with reference to top speed?
FM: Well, he had good top speed. For me, it was impossible to get closer to try something. When I was behind Lewis, the only way to get very close when I did get very close, is because he made a small mistake in a corner and then I was able to get out of the corner closer to him. But Nick didn’t make a single mistake and therefore it was impossible to get closer.
Q: (Heinz Prüller – ORF TV) Felipe, do you think the pole position in Malaysia was on the wrong side of the track because of the grip situation? And how will it be here on Sunday?
FM: In Malaysia, for sure it doesn’t count so much because if you look at the cars coming from the right and going to the left but going to the left more at the end of the straight, so I think when you pass the grid, you are more on the right than on the left, or maybe you are in the middle, so the difference there is almost nothing, from one side to the other. Here, for sure, the difference from the left to the right is a big difference because we know that here it’s quite dirty off-line and the start here on the left is much better.
Q: (Marco Evangelisti – Corriere dello Sport) Heikki, Felipe and Lewis: this year McLaren is clearly more competitive than the last few championships; Renault the opposite. Is Alonso switching from one team to the other a key factor in this improvement and why?
FM: I think Alonso, for sure, is a great driver. I think the driver’s point of view in terms of developing the car is very important. I think that is important, for sure. But I don’t think it’s just because of Fernando. I think, clearly, Renault has a kind of problem to put everything together in some areas and I think McLaren made a step forwards. Fernando started the testing, just at the beginning of the season, the car was already there, it was ready, so for sure, by then, it was important to develop the car but I think the car was already born. So I think clearly Renault made a step back but they must maybe have a reason, maybe in the tyres or whatever, and McLaren made a step forward. That’s clear. We saw that last year Fernando and Giancarlo were always there. This year, Giancarlo and Heikki are not there any more, so it’s clear that they have some problems.
Q: (Jacques Deschenaux – SRG / TSR TV) Felipe, do you think that you could miss Michael during the season in terms of development of the car and have you had contact with him after Australia and Malaysia?
FM: Well, for sure, Michael is already a great driver in terms of development, in terms of how to work with the team but I think we’re doing a good job. I think the team is really prepared to work, to keep working, to keep developing the car. I’m sure we’re going to have good development from now until the next races and I think the way we are working, even with Kimi, the whole team together, is going really well, so it’s not because of the last race that we are missing something. I think we are really in the right direction and we need to carry on like that.
Q: (Jacques Deschenaux – SRG / TSR TV) And did you have contact with Michael?
FM: Yeah, I spoke to him before the race and after the last race.
Q: (Dan Knutson – National Speed Sport News) May I ask all of you what you think about racing without traction control next year?
FM: I never drove a Formula One car without traction control. It will be quite new for me, but it will be the same for everybody, so we just need to find the settings to make the car more stable, to try and work on the engine, on what we can work, because we’re going to miss a lot of electronic parts next year, but I don’t know how it’s going to be. So it’s going to be new for everybody. We just need to find ourselves quickly under the new rules.
Q: (Peter Windsor – Speed TV) Felipe, you said that you spoke to Michael or he spoke to you after the Malaysian Grand Prix. Can I ask what he said?
FM: No. It’s confidential. He’s an important part in the team, so now we just work together like we don’t say what we say with the engineers, but it was a nice conversation anyway.
Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Felipe, at the end of the race in Malaysia, Lewis claimed that he had tricked you into going off when you were trying to get past him, implying that he was late braking and you fell for it and went off. Is that true?
FM: Well, I would do the same if I was in front. I think there we proved that it’s very difficult to pass in Formula One. I think it also depends on the track. It was not an easy track on which to pass in Malaysia and I think Lewis did the right job. He was fighting for his position and for sure, he would not give me the position, that would never happen. We need to try to go to that position. Unfortunately it was a difficult corner, it was very dirty off-line but it was the only place to try, otherwise I would be sitting behind him and for sure when Lewis would be behind, I would not give him an easy life either. That’s the way it works, so I think he did his job, he did a very very good race and nothing new.
Q: (Ed Gorman – The Times) Did he actually trick you to go off?
FM: No, no, I don’t think so… |
