Felipe Massa: “Ferrari, my second family”

As you may have heard, I will race with Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro until the end of the 2012 season. I am pleased to have reached this agreement because I feel, like everyone else in Maranello, that I am part of a second family: our relationship goes beyond of a simple professional relationship.

I arrived in Montreal yesterday after a trip from Brazil, with a stop in Quito for an event organized by Philip Morris. I'm happy to be back here in Canada after a year's break: this has always been one of the most popular events in the entire world championship calendar. The week at home was very intense. Furthermore, thanks to Shell I had the opportunity to have an interesting experience, spending a day on board a crude oil collection and sorting platform located off the coast of Rio de Janeiro. Being in front of the screens in the ship's control room reminded me of the telemetry data analysis we carry out together with the engineers at the end of each session: all the ship's parameters must be kept under control 24 hours a day. Even in this environment teamwork is fundamental and each individual must work in harmony with the others so that the task is carried out in the best possible way: we are together almost continuously for two weeks straight and it is vital that each member of the group feels responsible for what he does and is ready to help those around him. The same happens in Formula 24.

Even though I like the Montreal circuit, characterized by the challenge of having to race on a mixture of permanent and street circuit with a rather low downforce, I have never had much luck in this race. My best result dates back to the last season with Sauber, when I finished fourth. The last two participations were rather complicated: in 2007 I was disqualified for leaving the pit lane when there was still a red light while the following year there was a refueling problem at the pit stop which forced me to return to the pits on the next lap, which probably cost me a place on the podium. It's a shame, because in 2008 the car was very competitive, so much so that I managed to climb up to fifth place in the final. This year we hope things will be better. I think the car will be faster than what we saw in Turkey, also because this track has several points in common with those of Melbourne and Sakhir, where we were very competitive. Furthermore, we won't really know the truth at least until free practice on Friday afternoon.