Felipe Massa Q&A
Of this year's crop of F1 rookies, Felipe Massa was the one with the biggest question mark over his true potential. But in Melbourne the baby-faced Massa was on the case from the start, out-qualifying his team-mate and keeping his car on the road in often tricky conditions. Come the race he got caught up in the first corner melee. But he might not have been an entirely innocent victim - at least three other midfield drivers reported that out-of-control Saubers had caused them grief, although Nick Heidfeld was also in the middle of it. Curiously, the timing system revealed that Massa did win one contest on his debut. Of the eight drivers eliminated, he just pipped Heidfeld to the honour of being fastest through the speed trap at the end of the pit straight - up to 20kph quicker than others about to get caught up in the crash! Adam Cooper spoke to the Brazilian
"In the first corner somebody touched me, but I don't know who. I made a good start, and I wanted to be careful especially in the first corner, but the race ended like this."
"Yes, of course."
"Of course, I'm happy about my weekend, but I would have liked to finish the race. But racing is racing!"
"I think the most difficult thing was finishing the race with a crash!"
"Yeah, but now I'm really relaxed! I was more nervous before Friday, because it was my start in F1, but now I'm OK."
"I'm very happy about my position on the grid. It was a very nice qualifying session. In the wet conditions my car was very nice, and I think we had a good car to finish the race in a very good position."
"I think F1 cars are completely different from other cars. There's much more power and much more grip, and the electronics are completely different. It's difficult in the beginning to learn everything, but I think I will learn OK."
"I started in go-karts, like every other driver, when I was nine years old. I raced go-karts until I was 17 years old, and after that I started in Formula Opel in Brazil. Then in 2000 I did Formula Renault in Europe and Italy, and last year I did [Euro] F3000."
"I think it's not so difficult to learn the circuits, and I think I was good on my first day here, so we'll see."
"I think the team was very nice to give me a chance last year, and I'm very happy to be starting with a team like Sauber."
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