A serene and
motivated Felipe Massa spoke to the press during the
conference at the presentation of the F10. The first
question was about the 2010 rules, which alter the
approach to the races noticeably: “How do you think the
races will look like with the new rules?”
“We’ll start
with less petrol into the weekend, while we will start into
the race with enough petrol for the whole distance. Then
there are other details, such as the points assigned to the
first and second in the races. Having all these changes in
mind we have to pay a lot of attention and learn rapidly in
terms of strategy and, as far as I am concerned, regarding
driving the car to be immediately competitive.“
Felipe should
have driven the F10 at its debut in the afternoon, but the
weather conditions weren’t right. So the Brazilian driver
spoke about his enormous contribution to the single-seater’s
development: “Many things happened in 2009, resulting in
difficult conditions for us to work on the car. We started
very early thinking about 2010. We were asking for many
modifications not just regarding aerodynamics, but also the
engine and the tank. Everything was really important
considering the 2010 rules. What’s very important is that
every single detail can bring tenths of a second.”
Another topic
were the great expectations regarding his teammate Fernando
Alonso: “The expectations as far as my teammate is concerned
I’ve been living for many years now. When there’s a new
driver at Ferrari there are great expectations and the goal
is to work well as a team, to be complete. I’ll have a very
strong teammate. I’ve always done good work, learned a lot,
shown many times that I’m able to win and fight, whoever my
teammate was. Michael is a friend and I learned a lot from
him, but on the track we’ll be competitors. Although we’ll
have a good relationship, as always. I’m happy that he’s
cheering for me.”
The journalists
also wanted to talk about Massa’s accident last year: “I had
a really unbelievable accident. But naturally safety is
something we’re working on every single day. We have to
continue like this and there will be much more work to do
also amongst us drivers and on the tracks to improve. On a
personal level I’m happy that with everything that happened
nothing has changed in my work.”
In the end there
was a private question: what is more exciting: the baptism
of the F10 or the upcoming one of your son? “Felipinho was
born in November and it was an incredible feeling. I’m so
proud and happy. This here today is a different child: the
F10; we have to let it grow rapidly and lift it to a higher
level. What we can see here today is the result of many
months of hard work on the car, let’s hope that we’ll be
competitive right from the start.”
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