BRAZIL: MOTOR RACING - Formula one driver Felipe Massa reacts to Ferrari's deal with Spanish driver Fernando Alonso and says he believes they will work well as a team; He also talks about a return to F1 racing

Record ID: 572649

  • Title: BRAZIL: MOTOR RACING - Formula one driver Felipe Massa reacts to Ferrari's deal with Spanish driver Fernando Alonso and says he believes they will work well as a team; He also talks about a return to F1 racing
  • Date: 2nd October 2009
  • Summary: SAO PAULO, BRAZIL (FILE) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF MASSA DURING A FERRARI EVENT (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF MASSA ARRIVING IN HOSPITAL AFTER ACCIDENT
  • Embargoed: 17th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Brazil
  • Country: Brazil
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVAE07WY4LOUPQOQS8M36EMV0G85
  • Story Text: Brazilian Ferrari driver Felipe Massa said on Wednesday (September 29) that he and Fernando Alonso will manage to work well together next season after the Italian glamour team announced a three-year deal with the Spaniard.
    Alonso, who won two titles with Renault under now banned boss Flavio Briatore, replaces Kimi Raikkonen, Finland's 2007 world champion.
    In an interview for Brazil's TV Globo network, Massa said he would handle Alonso in the same way he did with his current team partner Raikkonen.
    "I was not Kimi's (Raikkonen) friend and we worked well together, so it's the same thing (with Fernando Alonso). He is also a sensational pilot, a great pilot, and we will have to work well together inside the team and on the tracks each one will have to try and do their best," he said.
    The Brazilian lost out on the title by a single point last season to McLaren's Lewis Hamilton, Alonso's team mate at that team in 2007.
    Massa has not raced since he suffered life-threatening head injuries at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July but is making good progress with his recovery.
    He started training this week for a popular go-kart event that will take place in Brazil in November.
    Massa said he would only return to the grid when Ferrari gives a green light.
    "It's very hard for me to say when I'll return, because the time may come when I say I'm one hundred percent and my doctor, my doctors here, say I'm one hundred percent and they might still not allow me to return. That could happen," he said.
    Some commentators had expected Raikkonen to reduce Massa to a number two role when the Finn moved to Ferrari from McLaren in 2007 but the Brazilian rose to the challenge and did a far better job than his team mate last year.
    Massa, a friend of retired seven times champion Michael Schumacher and managed by the son of former Ferrari boss Jean Todt, is also close to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo and has become a respected and popular team member.
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