After Kimi
Raikkonen it was Felipe Massa to answer the questions from
the press at the convention hall in Fiorano, at the centre
of the race track, where Ferrari runs its tests of the road
cars and the ones for competitions, on the day the new
Ferrari F2007 was previewed.
Felipe Massa: "I've already seen the car in the wind
tunnel before Christmas and I've seen it again today in the
plant. The car is very beautiful and has many more details
than the one from 2006, such as the front suspension. There
are many positive elements and I am really motivated to
drive the car.
"This car has many aspects, which are the fruits of the work
that has been done at the end of the last season. The
driving angle has slightly changed, I already tried out the
seat and I must say that there will be no problem to adjust
to it, because the change is minimal. As I drove a lot with
the 248 F1, in the beginning I will have the responsibility
to give a lot of feedback to the technicians. We will
already see by tomorrow if everything works and then we will
take the car to Mugello and continue to further develop.
Continuity is certainly important.
"I have always had good team-mates on the squad and the best
thing is to have a fast team-mate to be able to compare
myself to. I have learned a lot from Michael and above all
during the second part of the year I grew enormously. On the
other hand it is nice to work with Kimi; we will work
together to make the car victorious. We still have to get to
know each other, because we just met last week: He looks
like someone with whom I can work very well.
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"The new tyres will radically change the way of
driving. There is much less grip and I think that I
have already adjusted myself to this new kind of
situation, thanks to the teams' work, with whom we
studied the new setups. Photo: Felipe Massa (right)
and Kimi Raikkonen with the Fiat Panda Tender at
Vroom 2007 last week. |
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"I've already seen the car in the wind tunnel before
Christmas and I've seen it again today in the plant.
The car is very beautiful and has many more details
than the one from 2006, such as the front
suspension." Photo: Felipe Massa during Vrooom 2007
last week. |
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"To come to a new team is never easy, because you need to
build confidence, but here I was immediately able to arrive
at a high level of competitiveness. It is just a matter of
wanting and lots of motivation to work together, and this is
what Kimi is doing. The new tyres will radically change the
way of driving. There is much less grip and I think that I
have already adjusted myself to this new kind of situation,
thanks to the teams' work, with whom we studied the new
setups. It will be different for all of us, as we all start
from the same set of conditions.
"Michael will be helpful to Kimi and I. He is happy to be
able to help the team. For all of us the collaboration of
someone like him will be very important. Obviously Kimi and
I have to think about winning, to put our cars ahead of
everybody else. It is important to be consistent in every
single race, from the beginning of the season, especially
considering how it went last year. There will be lots of
competitors; there are many teams working hard; there could
also be some surprises. We should not only think about the
actual world champion. We also have to see how Renault works
without Alonso. It is important to continue working well,
just as we are doing right now."
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