Felipe Massa Q&A

How is the season going for you and the team so far?

“In terms of performance, it's going well. I had three races which were not really great; the first one was Bahrain that I had a few issues on the tyres, a puncture, then I had a crash in Monaco and then another crash in the qualifying for Canada. So taking away these three races, it was good. But now hopefully we can carry on with some good results and [have] no crashes any more.”

What are your predictions for the weekend? Will we see you on the podium on Sunday?

“I hope so! I love the track and our car is quite competitive around this type of track, so I'm really looking forward and we're quite optimistic.”

What's your opinion on Mark Webber's decision to leave F1 at the end of the season?

“I really respect his announcement. I think we all have a time to decide what we want to do in our lives, and he's decided now. He's 36-years old, so it's really a good time and a good period to choose to do different things. I think he's a great driver - he's shown fantastic performance, he's won many races and he's fought for the championship, so I think that shows he's had a great career.”

And what are your plans for the next couple of years? Will you stay with Ferrari?

“Well I hope so. We need to wait a little bit, but I think I have the possibility to stay. It's a great team to work with and in terms of the car, it's like a dream.”

What's been your favourite race of your career?

“I think Interlagos [in 2006]. For sure, the first victory is one of the most important ones, which was Turkey 2006, and then the first victory at Interlagos - at home - it's always the most important one. And for a Brazilian, we know how important it is to win at home. It's like our championship, you know? You can even see that Senna enjoyed much more winning in Brazil than winning the championship - you could see it in his face. So the most important race was my first victory in Brazil.”

What's been your most embarrassing moment in F1?

“The embarrassing ones are the very bad races. Maybe one of these was 2002 here in Silverstone. I was very quick but I couldn't stay on the track. It was raining a lot and I spun maybe five times in the race. It was pretty embarrassing!”

Who’s toughest – Schumacher or Alonso?

“I would put both at the same level, definitely. Maybe I had a bit more trouble with Fernando, in terms of performance, as a team mate, but I would put both at the same level.

“For sure, I had a great relationship with Michael and I have a very great relationship with Fernando, but they are completely different, you know. Even Kimi, we had a great time together but he's completely different again.”

And finally, which cars do you own?

“I have a Ferrari California and a 599 GTO, a Jeep Cherokee and a Fiat 500.”

Felipe Massa was talking exclusively to Auto Express courtesy of Shell – supplier of advanced fuels to the Ferrari F1 Team.