Massa: I can work well with Alonso
Felipe Massa says he is already getting on well with new team-mate Fernando Alonso and thinks they will help each other to improve further alongside each other at Ferrari.
Since Alonso was announced as Kimi Raikkonen’s replacement for the 2010 season, there have been suggestions that there could be tensions between Ferrari’s all-Latin pairing with them having clashed on track in the past and the fact both are eyeing the world championship.
Massa and Alonso have spent this week together on the slopes in Italy at Ferrari sponsor Marlboro’s annual Wrooom media event and, speaking to journalists in his first press conference of the year, the team’s established driver said he expected them to develop a good working relationship which will help drive the team’s development.
And having already partnered world champions Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Raikkonen in his seven-season Formula 1 career, Massa believes working alongside two-time champion Alonso will also be beneficial for him.
"During my career I’ve always had extraordinary team-mates,” he said at the ski event in Madonna di Campiglio.
“This is what enabled me to learn and to improve, because you can learn a lot from a different driving style, from the way he sets up the car, how he goes into corners and how he brakes.
“I’m sure that we’ll work together very well, because this will help us both and also the team regarding the car’s development.
“Naturally we’ll both fight to stay ahead, because that’s our sport. Fernando is an extremely talented driver and I’ll try to help him with my experience in Ferrari.”
The pair famously had a heated post-race debate at the European Grand Prix in 2007, which was caught on live TV, having earlier banged wheels while fighting for the lead of the race which Alonso, then a McLaren driver, ultimately won.
Massa admits he had been unhappy with the Spaniard’s accusations at the time, but says they cleared the air over that incident a long time ago.
Indeed he says he has already spoken to his new stable-mate more than he ever did with his partner of the last three years, Raikkonen.
“We had a discussion in 2007, after the Nürburgring race, because he accused me of unsporting behaviour: we cleared that, he apologised and that was it,” Massa said.
“Over the last days we spoke about our ideas regarding the car’s development.
“Although I’ve always worked very well with Kimi I’ve spoken more to Fernando over the last three days than with him in three years.”
The Brazilian himself starts his fifth straight season at Maranello and says that thanks to the support of the team he prepares to return to racing as good as ever following his terrifying accident in Hungary last summer.
“The accident hasn’t changed anything in my work approach and in my way of thinking. Because I had to cope with so many difficulties in my life, I always learned a lot,” he added.
“I always had lots of support from Ferrari, since when I started racing for this team, but the strength and the availability they showed after my accident was really incredible: I knew that I could count on them, but what they gave me was really exceptional.”
Source: itv.com/f1
Image source: itv.com/f1
Felipe Massa says he is already getting on well with new team-mate Fernando Alonso and thinks they will help each other to improve further alongside each other at Ferrari.
Since Alonso was announced as Kimi Raikkonen’s replacement for the 2010 season, there have been suggestions that there could be tensions between Ferrari’s all-Latin pairing with them having clashed on track in the past and the fact both are eyeing the world championship.
Massa and Alonso have spent this week together on the slopes in Italy at Ferrari sponsor Marlboro’s annual Wrooom media event and, speaking to journalists in his first press conference of the year, the team’s established driver said he expected them to develop a good working relationship which will help drive the team’s development.
And having already partnered world champions Jacques Villeneuve, Michael Schumacher and Raikkonen in his seven-season Formula 1 career, Massa believes working alongside two-time champion Alonso will also be beneficial for him.
"During my career I’ve always had extraordinary team-mates,” he said at the ski event in Madonna di Campiglio.
“This is what enabled me to learn and to improve, because you can learn a lot from a different driving style, from the way he sets up the car, how he goes into corners and how he brakes.
“I’m sure that we’ll work together very well, because this will help us both and also the team regarding the car’s development.
“Naturally we’ll both fight to stay ahead, because that’s our sport. Fernando is an extremely talented driver and I’ll try to help him with my experience in Ferrari.”
The pair famously had a heated post-race debate at the European Grand Prix in 2007, which was caught on live TV, having earlier banged wheels while fighting for the lead of the race which Alonso, then a McLaren driver, ultimately won.
Massa admits he had been unhappy with the Spaniard’s accusations at the time, but says they cleared the air over that incident a long time ago.
Indeed he says he has already spoken to his new stable-mate more than he ever did with his partner of the last three years, Raikkonen.
“We had a discussion in 2007, after the Nürburgring race, because he accused me of unsporting behaviour: we cleared that, he apologised and that was it,” Massa said.
“Over the last days we spoke about our ideas regarding the car’s development.
“Although I’ve always worked very well with Kimi I’ve spoken more to Fernando over the last three days than with him in three years.”
The Brazilian himself starts his fifth straight season at Maranello and says that thanks to the support of the team he prepares to return to racing as good as ever following his terrifying accident in Hungary last summer.
“The accident hasn’t changed anything in my work approach and in my way of thinking. Because I had to cope with so many difficulties in my life, I always learned a lot,” he added.
“I always had lots of support from Ferrari, since when I started racing for this team, but the strength and the availability they showed after my accident was really incredible: I knew that I could count on them, but what they gave me was really exceptional.”
Source: itv.com/f1
Image source: itv.com/f1
