Ferrari, Massa: “I don't think we'll have an easy Friday this weekend looking at the weather!”

It seems that the rain that marked the Silverstone race two weeks ago has crossed the Channel and is also with us at the Nurburgring for this German Grand Prix weekend.

When Felipe Massa met the media in the Scuderia Ferrari motorhome this afternoon, he explained that the weather makes life complicated even for Friday. “We test many things on Friday, all the new components do their first test on track during free practice for a Grand Prix, also because now there are no tests during the season. Sometimes we split the workload, adapting some parts to my car and others to Fernando's to see the differences. It means that Friday is much more important today, because when we were able to do testing during the season, you understood where you were at with the new parts. Often all of this depends on the weather and I don't think we'll have an easy Friday this weekend looking at the weather!”

Even though Felipe's British Grand Prix did not produce the result he was looking for, the Ferrari driver is satisfied with the progress made on the Ferrari 150° Italia. “We brought a good amount of used parts to Silverstone, which was the first track where we managed to use the hard tires well,” he recalled. “We did a good job, being competitive in all situations. We have another little update here and I hope we can keep up with the best this weekend too. Two years ago, the last time we were here at the Nürburgring, I came third: in fact, I got a lot of podiums with Ferrari at the German Grand Prix and I like this track, so even if victory is the goal which we always aim for, another podium would be a good result for Sunday, given the strength of our opponents.” It wouldn't be a summer of Formula 1 if Massa wasn't asked by a journalist about his future with Scuderia Ferrari and whether he will still be part of the team next season! “Next year for sure yes, I have a contract that expires at the end of 2012,” was the reply. “After that, we'll see, there's still time before we think about what happens after 2012. I've been here for six years, next year it will be seven, and it's very nice to race for Ferrari.”