Q & A with Felipe Massa

Looking relaxed, and clearly full of confidence after his strong 2008 campaign, Massa spoke at length about his development as a driver, his thoughts for the season and what difference KERS is going to make to the racing. Autosport.com was there to hear what he said.

Q. Which will be the most difficult technology to adapt to this year - slicks, aero or KERS?

Felipe Massa: Well, I think the biggest change is the aerodynamic. It makes the car completely different in terms of driving. The KERS is something you need to understand, you just press the button and get some power - and slicks just give more grip. So for the driver, when you put grip on the car, it is always easier. But when you take it away, the grip is a little bit more difficult to learn and to get used to. So, I think it is more the aerodynamics.

Q. Just before Christmas you said you were not happy about the cut in driver salaries - for obvious reasons. But in the current economic climate, if driver salaries are not cut then other areas have to be trimmed - possibly engineers. If you cut a driver's salary by $5 million, that is the equivalent of 50-100 engineers. What would you rather have - the money or the engineers?

FM: It is quite a difficult question. For sure I am not happy if they cut my salary, just as they would not be happy if they cut your salary. That is part of life. We just need to work hard, because in F1 we know we have a lot of engineers and a lot of people, but we spend a lot of money as well in many areas. We need to take the areas where we can cut the money and not put some people out (of work). There are a lot of things we do that cost a lot of people, even without people working in the team. This is a priority in my opinion.

Q. Looking back to the end of the championship, have your views on it changed? Do you have any regrets about last year?

FM: You always reflect about what happened in the last race, and with Brazil I will hope to use that for the future. It is always what I am doing - even when I had some bad races last year in the beginning of the season or the year before. I was always working on it to have some better races. When I had some bad results and was completely under pressure, I would have a fantastic race after that.

So, I think this is just another one that was quite strong at the end of the day in terms of what happened in the race. The finish to the championship and the last corner was something that we never saw in F1. It happened perhaps once before in F1 but you never remember.

At the end of the day, I think more on the negative side you can think that I lost the championship on the final corner. But on the other hand we had a fantastic championship, a fantastic last race especially - so we did everything we could to win the championship.

We lost in that race because the circumstances were quite difficult for us. You never lose the championship in the last corner; you lose it in 18 races. You always try to use that in experience, to try and not repeat mistakes in the future and to try and be even stronger.

Q. Can you just talk to us about your championship chances for this year, after the experiences of last season? And how do you foresee the battle with Lewis Hamilton?

FM: I think it will be another championship. Everyone is starting from zero and maybe Lewis will be the main competitor, or maybe not. I think, as I said, in a championship like that as we did last year, you learn a lot - even if we didn't win the championship. We did a fantastic championship and that is already quite important. It makes you even stronger mentally and in terms of experience. Maybe we will fight with Lewis, maybe not and it will be with another driver - so we need to be ready to fight with whatever driver we are racing against. That is it! There is not much to say about that.

Q. You beat your teammate very often in qualifying over the past few years. Do you think you would have done the same if your teammate would have been Michael Schumacher?

FM: I did many times from the middle of the championship to the end in 2006 beat him! For sure Michael was much more experienced than me, but from the middle of that championship I improved a lot and I was very competitive as well. I think I could have done it...

Q. Can you talk us through the KERS system? Will you use the extra power as a boost button to overtake, or will you use it to improve lap time? Or, will you do both?

FM: I think both. First of all, we think more in terms of performance - using it every lap to get more power. And then for sure, if you are behind somebody you will try something to pass. So you will use everything you have to overtake. But first of all we are working on it for performance.

Q. Can you imagine differences in the reaction time of KERS, to limit the drivers' chances of responding?

FM: The only thing is that KERS is not made for overtaking, it is made for performance. So we will use it every lap. Especially if you are in front of somebody, and the guy may be quicker than you. You will try to use it in every straight which is maybe the only opportunity the other one has to pass you. That is really the case. If you are in front of somebody and you know you have maybe two overtaking opportunities on the track, you will use them on these parts, because you know the guy can pass you there.

Q. You have talked about Lewis and next season, do you feel the extra pressure of being a world champion will weigh down on him? And do you feel Kimi Raikkonen will be back up there?

FM: I think you always have questions. You can even look to Kimi - he won the championship and he had big pressure last year. So there is always big pressure to win, especially if you race for Ferrari. I don't think there would have been a big difference, if I had been champion and in the position I am in. For sure I expect Kimi to be very tough competition as well. He has shown over many years that he is a very quick driver, so we will wait and see how the championship is going to be.

Q. Since the title showdown in Brazil last year, there has been a lot of talk about gold medals in F1. Would a gold medal motivate you any more to win a race?

FM: I don't know. I think it is an interesting change this idea of medals. But if people say to me, oh with the medals you would have been champion, but that is not how I think. We know the rules before the start of the season, so I am not a guy who starts to make an excuse. We had this system of points since 2003, and since then it has been the same. That is why the medals are nice, they are interesting and they would change a little bit the situation in terms of giving drivers medal. But you know the rules before the start of the season, so it doesn't change anything.

Q. There has been a lot of discussion about safety and KERS, especially where electrical systems are being used. Have you got any reservations?

FM: We are always working very hard on the safety. It is a very new thing for us, as you have some batteries inside the car. We are working very hard on that to make things 100 percent safe. That is the most important thing, because we cannot take risks for the drivers, mechanics or the people in the grandstands. We are working very hard on that, and I don't think I am the right guy to answer this question - but right now we are working hard on the safety.

Q. What is your reaction to the loss of the French Grand Prix from the calendar this year?

FM: I won last year so it is sad for sure to lose a race in France. For sure Magny-Cours as a track is a nice track, but you don't do a race just because of the track - you do it for many other things. I think France is a very nice country to be in, so maybe in the future I would like to go back and race - either in Magny-Cours, Paris or Disney! It will be fantastic to go back to France, especially in a completely different place.

Q. What was your reaction to the reports that Fernando Alonso will be joining Ferrari?

FM: Well, now or some years ago? I think it is for one-and-a-half years we have talked about Fernando at Ferrari, and for the moment I haven't seen him in the team. Rumours are just rumours - sometimes they come true and sometimes not. At least I have my contract until the end of next year, Kimi as well, so we will see if he is coming after that or not. In two years many things can change, so for the moment I just take that as a rumour.

Q. You have spoken very little about your ambitions today to be world champion. Do we take this as a sign that you now feel capable of it, so you don't need to set your case out?

FM: Well, for sure the most important thing in my mind is to be champion. That is what I want. But it is true that in the beginning I was always under pressure every day - people said that I was not capable to be competitive first of all at Sauber, then when I came at Ferrari I was not capable to be there or win races. Everything turned out differently. I was competitive always. I won many races, I fought for the championship and I don't need to prove anything to anybody. That is why I feel even stronger on this side.

If someone asks me what I want, then I will say I want to be champion. But I don't need to prove every day any more because I think I have shown enough that I can be competitive.