“It didn’t make sense in the second Grand Prix of the year”
MADRID, 4 Nov. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Former Brazilian Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa has revealed that he did not obey Ferrari’s orders during the second Grand Prix of the 2010 season in Australia, when they asked him to let his teammate, the Spanish Fernando Alonso, pass, something he did do. four months later in Germany.
“You might think it was Hockenheim, when the team asked me to let Fernando pass, but I tell another story that came much earlier, that same year,” he said when asked by L’Equipe about which team order was most difficult for him to understand. “We were in Australia, in the second race of the season. We started with rain but it stopped,” he began to relate.
At the time of the incident, the Brazilian was third with Alonso behind. “I was fighting Lewis -Hamilton-. There were only four laps left and the team asked me to let Fernando pass. I refused and Fernando finished fourth. Nobody knew anything about it at the time, but I never understood why, in the second Grand Award of the year, they gave us instructions. That day I didn’t obey. I complied with those types of orders when the title was at stake, like with Michael in 2006, but as soon as the season started and without knowing what was going to happen, it didn’t make sense.” , he indicated.
Later, during the 2010 German Grand Prix, the Asturian won ahead of Felipe Massa after the Brazilian completed an evening team briefing, prohibited by the regulations, after hearing the famous phrase ‘Fernando is faster than you’ (‘ Fernando is faster than you’).
In another order of things, Massa doubted who was the best driver he has had to fight against. “Don’t forget that I had Fernando -Alonso- as a partner but also Michael -Schumacher-. I also had to fight Lewis -Hamilton- for the title in 2008. It is difficult to choose just one,” he said.
On the other hand, he acknowledged that Brazil 2006 was his best triumph in the ‘Great Circus’. “It was my first victory in ‘my’ Grand Prix. I had just won my first race in Turkey, but winning in front of your own people for a Brazilian is something enormous. I lived that day like a dream. I was raised to admire Ayrton-Senna -, I learned karting at the Interlagos track, right next to the Formula 1 circuit,” he indicated. “I was the first Brazilian to win there since Ayrton, and I can assure you that victory made noise in Brazil,” he added.
Finally, he talked about some of his worst moments. “My accident in Hungary in 2009. It is never an easy time to abandon your team even if I was not responsible for what happened to me. I felt weakened by this episode and it was a difficult time. But that is nothing compared to death of Jules -Bianchi-; although in Suzuka -in 2014- he was still alive, he was no longer with us. And that night, seeing that my friend was already gone, it was a horrible moment,” he concluded.