Massa: I’ve not had much luck this season

Maybe it’s because the Drivers’ championship is already a foregone conclusion, but the press, restless for a good story, are still pursuing the matter of Hamilton colliding with Felipe Massa in Singapore, which wrecked the Ferrari man’s race. “It’s true I’ve not had much luck this season, with punctures, or someone hitting me, or other things happening and I hope that the situation changes for the last five races,” said the Brazilian. “That’s why I found it so frustrating when I was hit in the Singapore Grand Prix. I was disappointed after the race, but come Monday and I was already thinking about the next race. What’s past is past and we need to think about the future. I have not spoken to Hamilton and he did not want to speak to me at the time in Singapore. That’s why I was even more disappointed because, if I was him, I would have wanted to say sorry. I had tried to speak to him away from the media, but as he did not want to, I did what I did in front of the media. I have no reason to speak to him now about this as the matter is closed as far as I am concerned. If he wants to come and talk to me, then that’s fine too.”

Adding to the media’s suggestions of something controversial having happened in the night race a fortnight ago were Felipe’s race engineer, Rob Smedley’s comments prior to the Singapore collision. “If you listen to everybody’s radios you will hear strange things all the time,” the Ferrari man explained. “For sure, we are in competition and things like this happen in every sport. Rob was just trying to push me, he was not suggesting I should destroy another driver’s race and that is clear, because I would not do it anyway, even if he had asked me to. Rob always talks to me a lot and that is fine for me because it is the way we work together.”

As for the team’s aim to finish second in both championships, Felipe believes in looking at it race by race. “We will try and finish as high up the order as possible in these remaining races, we will try and win and try to be competitive up against the other teams, which has not been the case in recent races.”

Sebastian Vettel needs just one point on Sunday to retain his world championship crown and when asked for an opinion, Felipe delivered this generous appraisal of the German. “All drivers would like to have a year like his: winning the title with five races to go is definitely an incredible victory. His worst result so far has been a fourth place and he has had a perfect year. Sure, with the car he had, he has also been impeccable in qualifying so he has started every race at the front, which has been a great help during the race.”