Massa's Blog: Important to do our job perfectly

Since the Belgian Grand Prix, I spent some time at the factory having meetings and working on the simulator and apart from that, I have been at home in Monaco. On Wednesday, I head back to Maranello for some promotional work and the World Premiere of the new 458 Spider, before taking the short drive down to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix. I’m sure I don’t have to add that this is a weekend I am really looking forward to. I first raced in Italy way back in 2000, the year I was competing in Formula Renault. Italy definitely feels like my country, starting with the fact that I have Italian roots, going back to my grandfather who was born in the south of the Italy. My family has always had a very Italian tradition at home in Brazil, so it was a natural thing for me to move to Italy to pursue my career and my dream of being a Formula 1 driver. I remember everyone said that you need to go and race in England, because if you don’t do that then you will not get to Formula 1. But I took a different direction, having a career in Italy. It seems to have worked because not only did I become a Formula 1 driver, I became a Ferrari Formula 1 driver! Italy is therefore a very important country for me and I love to go there, especially to race. It is a big part of my life and combined with the fact that this weekend is the home race for the whole team, clearly the Monza weekend is something really special for me.

I can still remember my first race at Monza: I was competing in Formula Renault and had two races, one on Saturday in the Italian series and the other on Sunday in the European championship and I won them both. In fact, it was not my first ever race in Italy, which actually took place at Mugello and I’m pleased to say I won that one too. When I first came to Italy, I lived quite close to Monza, in a place called Erba. I lived there for a year, as I had a place just opposite the workshop of the team I raced for, living in the house that belonged to my team boss. So this weekend is very much a second home race and one where I usually meet plenty of people from my racing past in the Monza paddock.

Back to 2011 and of course this is a very important weekend for us. Not in the sense of it being a last chance for us this year or anything like that, but because we really want to produce a great result for ourselves, for the team and most of all for the fans. Spa was not fantastic for us and the cold weather accentuated our tyre problems, but this weekend, we have the same tyre compounds but hopefully much hotter weather. We will need a car with good top speed. Like all the teams, we will have a low downforce set-up unique to Monza, with small wings and in free practice you need to make sure the car is well balanced with good traction to pull out of the slow chicanes and that it is able to deal with jumping the kerbs, which is vital for a quick lap time, especially in qualifying.

As for the race, I think we will see a lot of overtaking, because of the high speed nature of the track and the fact we will have two zones where we can use the DRS. I’m not saying it will be an advantage to be lying second coming into Parabolica on the last lap to overtake the car in front, because if you have a good car, it’s probably a better strategy to pass before then and pull out a gap that is bigger than one second. However, if you are fighting right down to the last lap, that could be the case, which would make for a very exciting race. At this point of the season, it is not difficult to predict that Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren and of course Red Bull Racing will be the main contenders. However, Mercedes have shown they have possibly the best top speed on the straight out of all of us and as that is so important at this circuit, they could also have some influence on the final result.

Monza is our last weekend of racing in Europe this year and, because this season has not gone so well for us, it will be even more important to do our job perfectly and try and get the result that we and all the tifosi want and deserve. For my part, I can’t wait to drive through those historic gates of the Monza park on Thursday morning, then start driving on Friday, leading up to trying to improve on my third place from last year. Standing on that incredible podium which hangs over the pit lane, looking down at the crowd, is a great experience and I want to do it again on Sunday.

Source: Ferrari.com

Ecclestone: I can’t do my job when I’m dead

Bernie Ecclestone reverted to his typical sardonic humour and image of invincibility when asked in Turkey if he fears Formula 1 slipping from his grasp.

Asked by Bild am Sonntag if he is worried he may soon have to relinquish his role as the most powerful figure in the Formula 1 paddock, he answered simply, “Yes.”

Asked why, the 80-year-old Briton told the German Sunday newspaper, “Because I can’t do my job when I’m dead.”

He suggested to Bloomberg in another interview that he cannot understand the interest of News Corp and Ferrari linked Exor when the sport’s current owners CVC are not interested in selling.

And he revealed, “There’s been other interest for quite some time”, adding that CVC might only be swayed with a “bloody enormous” offer.

FIA president Jean Todt confirmed on Sunday that the governing body has the right to veto a sale.

Curiously, another spanner in the works could be Todt’s predecessor Max Mosley, who called the FIA veto the ‘Don King clause’ because the flamboyant boxing promoter would not be an appropriate owner for the sport.

It’s about “having a suitable, proper person” owning Formula 1, Mosley told Bloomberg. “From a personal point of view, I don’t think they’d be the right person,” he said, referring to News Corp.

Mosley’s main gripe with Rupert Murdoch is his UK tabloid News of the World, responsible not only for the infamous ‘Nazi hookers’ story but also for hacking the phones of celebrities.

“There has been clear illegality,” said Mosley.

A News Corp spokeswoman declined to comment on Ecclestone or Mosley’s comments.

Source: YallaF1

Lewis Hamilton Q&A: I did the best job I could

Sixth on the Hockenheim grid, behind both Red Bull drivers, both Ferrari drivers and his own team mate Jenson Button, was a troubling result for McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton. But with the MP4-25’s tendency to perform better in the race than in qualifying, Hamilton isn’t ruling out a podium finish on Sunday…

Q: Lewis, qualifying seemed a little tougher for you with the Red Bulls and Ferraris up in front. How are you feeling about it?Lewis Hamilton: I’m okay with it. I’ve been saying for a long time that we are the third team at the moment and that we are not fast enough. But we’ll keep pushing and do the best that we can.

Q: So what do you expect to happen during the race?
LH: Hopefully we will have good weather and hopefully we can fight with the guys in front and try to make up some places.

Q: Were you surprised by the pace of the cars in front of you?
LH: No, I have not been surprised about the pace of the other cars, and I am not surprised that I am starting from P6. As I just said, I’ve been saying for quite a while that we are the third fastest team on the grid. Today the two teams in front simply did a better job. They have better downforce and their cars work pretty well. I have to admit that my lap was not fantastic and my qualifying pace was quite poor. I was already a tenth down through Turn One and then it’s really difficult to make it up. When you are really on the limit and you are really trying to pull everything out of the car sometimes that happens. That’s the way it is. I know that I did the best job I could.

Q: Is a podium within reach?
LH: You can be sure that we will do everything we can to be on the podium. Our race pace is better than our qualifying pace. We have demonstrated that many times this season.

Q: How much of a role will tyres play in the race?
LH: Well, I think that the guys in front are all pretty much on the same strategy. In my case, I have not driven the car on heavy fuel this weekend so it will be interesting to see how it works.

Q: Did your crash on Friday impair your qualifying pace?
LH: No, not really. It was wet so nobody was doing any fantastic times that would have made a difference for the grid.

Q: You are still leading the championship …
LH: Well, I would have preferred to qualify much higher. Overall I have to say that our pace has improved over the weekend, but we still have time to find on the track.

Q: Is the new blown diffuser to blame for your time?
LH: No, it must be another part of the car. We are the fastest team on the straights but don’t have enough downforce. But we have to keep working to eliminate those shortcomings.

Q: What about the race?
LH: I hope that I will get a good start and build from there. I know that we’ve been struggling in the first and last sectors, but we have seen that in a race anything can happen and Turn One, right after the start, might be the decisive part of the track.

Source: Formula1.com