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Written by:
Adam Cooper
RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
RACER Magazine http://www.racer.com/speedtv
05/11/2008 - 02:24 PM
Istanbul, Turkey
Massa now trails Raikkonen by seven points in the standings. (LAT Photo) ยป More Photos
Lewis Hamilton gave him a fright, but in the end Felipe Massa had everything under control as he wrapped up his third straight victory in Turkey, and the second of the season so far. As is his custom, he won from pole, although this one wasn’t straightforward. After the race Massa spoke to the media about his afternoon.
Q: Felipe, you like winning from pole. The Turkish Grand Prix always results in a winner from pole and everything delivered for you today.
“It is just fantastic. Today was a very difficult race actually and Lewis was pushing me hard a lot for the whole race. Then when I did my pit-stop he was there straight away, so I thought maybe he had put less fuel in or something. I then realized and my team told me straight away he was on three stops. For sure, that was a little bit of help as he was very strong and I couldn’t hold him on the track and he passed me. But then I knew I still had a good chance to win the race as three stops were a little bit optimistic. But anyway I created a reasonable gap to be at the front after the pit stops. It was difficult, but we made it three times in Turkey which is just fantastic. I think I can get a passport here already.”
Q: Ferrari were very good on both types of Bridgestone tire unlike most of the other cars in the field and starting on the option, or softer type of tire, was unusual as far as rest of the grid was concerned.
“Yeah, I was just talking with Kimi. Today was a very difficult day to choose the tires as the difference was not so big from the soft to the hard, even on the first lap and during the run. The hard was much better on Friday but my softs survived quite well on Friday, so we were really keen to use the softs today. But then I saw Lewis going very quickly with the hards and we thought maybe it was a little bit of a mistake. In the last run I think the car was so easy to run on the hard that maybe it was the right choice to choose the hard.”
Q: Felipe, the Monte Carlo Grand Prix – the marquee race for Formula 1 – looks very good for Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro.
“Yeah, for sure last year was okay. I finished third in Monte Carlo but McLaren were very strong there. We have been working a lot – even from last year – on the setup for Monte Carlo for this year, so hopefully we will have a good car and a good chance to win there as well. Having a good weekend would be definitely a good result, even being on the podium as you always want to score as many points as possible. We know Monte Carlo is a track which can be very tricky especially without traction control. But I am looking forward to being very strong there as well.”
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Q: Felipe, three time winner here, fantastic. Your feelings about this circuit?
“It is just great. It is just fantastic to drive here. As I said yesterday it gives you a lot of pleasure as a driver to drive here. It gives you so many different corners and also having a great car like I had today it is definitely fantastic to fight for the victory and win. It was a very difficult race. We saw that Lewis was pushing very hard. In a way fortunately he had three stops, but it was difficult to hold him on the track as he was very quick. At that moment knowing he was on three stops it was maybe not so good to fight and risk the care knowing that
Q: That overtaking maneuver. How did that come about from your point of view?
“I was trying to go a little bit on the inside but then I saw him going almost on the gravel, so I didn’t risk going more to the left as it would not have been fair and maybe we were going to crash. I tried to brake a bit late but he was inside, knowing where I was braking, so it was much easier to try. Then when he tried I saw him on my inside and I said ‘okay go’ and we will see at the next stop how it is going to be. It was just fine and I was talking with my engineer and he told me the gap should definitely have been okay.”
Q: So no problems during the race?
“Maybe we made a small mistake, a very small mistake, because it is difficult to choose the right tires here at the track. Our car was working very well on the soft for me on Friday, but not for Kimi. But on the hard it was very good. Then I said after three days the track will be much better, so I think the right directions will be the softs like most of the tracks are like that and the softs always work on the Sundays. But maybe the hard was a bit better knowing how quick Lewis was.”
Q: You’ve pretty much all admitted that the hard tire is the one you would have preferred to have been on all weekend for the race. With that in mind and looking at the final stage of the race – the only time you were on the same fuel weights – how much do you feel the teams are now more on an even playing field, given that your sector times were pretty much identical to each other for the last ten/fifteen laps?
“Well, I think we were very strong here during the first day, we were very strong yesterday during qualifying, seeing that we had more fuel than Lewis and similar fuel as Heikki. But I think in the race, it’s difficult to measure. For sure, McLaren was very, very strong here on the race pace, but we had a completely different choice of tires, so maybe we need to wait and see when we have exactly similar conditions, run-by-run, plus they had a different strategy as well, so we need to wait and see, but for sure, they were very, very competitive here.”
Q: This win has suddenly brought you back into the title race; what are your thoughts about the title right now?
“Well, I’m right in there in the fight. If you look at the past races, Kimi won one, I won the next one, Kimi won again, and I won this race. For sure it’s always very tight, the competition is very high, but after some races I feel that I can be competitive everywhere and I’m just happy to reduce the gap a little bit, being similar to Lewis and just concentrate on the next races. We know that sometimes you can win, sometimes you cannot win, but you need to score points like Kimi did today. It’s important to be competitive and then in the last three races you’re going to see who is going to have the greater chance to win but it’s important to be consistent and trying to get a lot of points race-by-race, even if it’s first or third or fifth, whatever.”
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