Massa: I have missed driving my race car

Felipe Massa looking forward to returning to the cockpit of his Ferrari F10

Aug.24 (Ferrari) Felipe Massa returns from his homeland Brazil to Monaco on route to Spa Francorchamps venue of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend. The Brazilian gives his thoughts ahead of , round 13 of the 2010 F1 World Championship in the lush Ardennes forest.

Felipe has yet to win a Grand Prix this season

Massa, speaking from his home town, said, “I am preparing to leave Sao Paolo to return to Europe for this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, having spent all my free time since the Hungarian Grand Prix at home here in Brazil. Usually, when you go on holiday it involves some sort of journey, but with all the travelling involved in my job, for me the ideal holiday is being at home and not having to see an airport, sit on a plane or stay in a hotel.”

His holiday of choice was relaxing with his family, “Staying at home with my family was the ideal break for me, catching up with everything going on here and meeting up with old friends. During the year, when I get the chance to stay in Brazil for a while, I admit that I miss my home country for a while after I leave, but knowing that I am returning to racing again is all the incentive I need to get on the plane back to Monaco.”

Felipe missed out on the 2009 Belgian GP due as he recovered from his eye injury

Massa like most of his compatriot F1 drivers past and present cherish their time on home soil, “It’s winter time now in Brazil, but to put that in perspective, the daytime temperature is still around 23 or 24 degrees, so nothing to complain about! Apart from keeping up my fitness training, I really managed to switch off for a while doing very little”

However for Massa and his family racing is very much part of their lives, “I was at the Interlagos circuit that hosts the Brazilian Grand Prix later this year: my family organises a racing event so it was good to hear the sound of racing engines again. We run three different race categories here, in conjunction with FIAT. One is an open-wheeler category, similar to Formula 2, called Formula Future, which as the name suggests is aimed at finding young racing talent from the next generation. It was the third round of the season and it was fun to be at a racetrack without all the pressure of racing myself.”

Ferrari has become increasingly competitive as the season reaches a crucial stage

Looking ahead to the weekend in Belgium, Massa was adamant that he is ready to resume the battle with his team, “Although it was a very quiet holiday, I am fully prepared for this weekend in Spa, as I kept in touch with the engineers, even though they were not working in the factory. We look in good shape, with some new parts coming as part of our constant development programme on the F10.”

Massa missed out on the 2009 Belgian GP due to his injury which kept him out of racing for the latter half of  last season, he says, “The last time I raced here was in 2008 and it’s not just because I won the race that I love this track. I think all the drivers look forward to racing on this fabulous circuit.”

Felipe in action during the 2008 Belgian GP weekend

He elaborates, “It is high speed, requiring less downforce than at many of the other tracks and fortunately, in the last few races, we showed that we have returned to being very competitive, even better than we had expected. But it is very hard to predict what could happen, as the small differences between the top teams means that performance has been very much track specific in terms of who had the slight advantage over the rest. As usual we need to wait and see how free practice goes before knowing what to expect.”

Although he is out of contention for the drivers title, Massa is very much committed to the cause of Ferrari’s success in the remaining races of the season, “There are only seven races left to go and I think that for the spectators and viewers at least, it should be a really exciting final part of the year, even if it might be a bit more tense for those of competing.”

Lewis Hamilton was demoted to third after the 2008 Belgian GP which gifted the win to Felipe

Massa has utmost confidence in the task at hand for him and his team, “Myself and Ferrari have been in this sort of situation before and we know how to deal with the pressure, by concentrating on the job in hand. Now we must build on the way we ended up just before the break, being competitive and putting ourselves back in the fight.”

If there is a place to resume the season then Spa is the ideal place to get going again according to the Brazilian, “I am definitely really motivated to get back in the cockpit because, even if I enjoyed the short holiday, I have to say I missed driving my race car and I can’t think of a better place to start again than at Spa. Even if it rains – and when didn’t we see water at Spa? – this is still a very enjoyable track to drive and actually it can be good fun in the wet. We just have to make sure we are ready to make the most of whatever the weekend throws at us.”