22/03/2012
NEWS STORY
As some hover around Felipe Massa like vultures, the Brazilian insists his Melbourne misery was all about the car.
Sadly, it is not unusual to see spiteful, cruel things posted on message boards and forums, the armchair experts afforded the added luxury of anonymity. However, following Felipe Massa's disappointing weekend in Australia, even the media has got involved, calling on Ferrari to fire the 2008 world championship runner-up, others holding polls as to who should replace him.
Speaking in Sepang however, the Brazilian refused to get riled by the media, insisting that all is not lost.
"We need to turn the page after Australia and start again from zero," the Brazilian told reporters, "and that is what we are planning for this race, which I hope will get off to a good start. This is not the first time that I have had a difficult race, there have been many. But one always has to look to the next one and this weekend will be only the second of the championship, so there is still time.
"As for Melbourne, it's true I have never had a weekend where the car has felt so bad right from the first day," he continued. "The car was not working the way it should and after just a few laps, the tyres were gone, but this was not a problem with the tyres, it was caused by the car's lack of balance.
"We are changing the chassis for this race and I think it is the right thing to do. Every time I drove this car during winter testing I never had any of the problems I had from the first day in Australia. The day after Fernando drove the same car in Barcelona for example, there was never anything strange or different in terms of lap times, race pace or tyre degradation. Then you arrive in Australia and see that everything is different, so changing the chassis is definitely the right thing to do. But it's not just the chassis that is changed for here, as we are replacing many of the components."
While the Italian team is providing him with a new chassis for this weekend, Massa was keen to stress that though major components had been changed, this was only aimed at solving the difficulties he encountered last week. "Even if we are changing the chassis and other parts, the car is still the same car in development terms that we had in Melbourne. We have to try this to get the most out of it, even if we are not where we ought to be in terms of performance compared to others. I hope this track will suit the car better."
Turning his attention to the media, he continued: "The press giving me a hard time? To be honest, I really don't care. I never drove depending on what others think or say about me. I just do my job thinking about trying to do the best I can in the car. When I arrived here in 2008, people were saying I was out of Ferrari, because I did not finish in Australia and then I did not finish here and it went on to become my best season. Things can change very quickly from one day to the next. The only thing I care about is to have the car I know from winter testing."
The Brazilian received some welcome support from his former teammate Michael Schumacher. Asked for his thoughts on Massa's Melbourne nightmare, the German said: "If I look at all the winter testing I think it was very clear that the two drivers were very close together. If you look at the optimum lap time achieved in the Barcelona tests, it's again very close. So to see the big difference that we saw in Melbourne, I can only assume there must have been something not right for him.
"He's been around for so long," he continued. "He's been fighting for the championship in 2009, he's always been up front so I don't see any reason why he should not be capable of doing so in the future. I trust he will do so, and that the team will do their utmost to give him the support that he needs."
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