- Title: UK: MOTOR RACING: MASSA Massa replaces Maldonado at Williams F1
- Date: 11th November 2013
- Summary: GROVE, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (NOVEMBER 11, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF F1 CARS BRAZILIAN DRIVER FELIPE MASSA BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELIPE MASSA, SAYING: "Yes definitely, I see myself coming here as a leader for the team, a leader for a very important change inside this team, to put this team in a good position in the championship, I'm really ready for that, happy. I feel very motivated for the second half of the season but also for next year and I hope we can do a fantastic job together with Williams going back to a good fight and a great fight for the championship as well." MASSA BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELIPE MASSA, SAYING: "I think the really important thing is that Williams wants to have me inside their team in whatever situation and I think that's really important and it gives me a lot more motivation to start something from zero you know." MASSA (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELIPE MASSA, SAYING: "I believe when I don't think that anymore I will do a different thing, I will not race anymore. I believe I can win races, I believe I can do a great job together with Williams and I'm really looking forward to that." MASSA BEING INTERVIEWED (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELIPE MASSA, SAYING: "I think that's very important, it's very nice to be in this team, a team that was very important for Brazil and I hope it will again, be very important for Brazil. I think Williams is a team that has all the big infrastructure to build a new car. This year is not a good year for Williams but looking how the rules will change for next year and looking how the cars will be completely different than what we have now I think it's a good time; I think it's a good time to come here, Williams. I know I have a lot to give to this team and I'm really ready to lead. It's a very important team which wants to grow, wants to go back to what they were before to what they were in the past and I'm really looking forward, I'm really excited about that." MASSA (SOUNDBITE) (English) FELIPE MASSA, SAYING: "I never drove any other engine in Formula One, I always drove Ferrari engine so it's the first time I'm going to feel a different engine, I'm going to drive a different engine. It will be a completely different engine because we're going to a V6 turbo so it will be a bigger change, anyway I'm really convinced that our new engine, Mercedes that we're going to have next year, is good, they know what to do. Many people are talking well about Mercedes for 2014 so I think it's already a good start, I think already it's a good step and we need to work on the car now." MASSA BEING INTERVIEWED
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- Story Text: Brazilian driver Felipe Massa says he is ready to be a leader at Williams when he starts racing for the Formula One team in the 2014 season.
Williams might be seen as a step down for Felipe Massa after eight years at Ferrari but he said on Monday (November 11) that he sees it more as a chance to step up and become a leader.
The little Brazilian has been a loyal sidekick to a string of Formula One champions since he first arrived as a race driver at Maranello in 2006.
Massa was there alongside Michael Schumacher, helped Kimi Raikkonen take the 2007 title and has made way for double champion Fernando Alonso more times than he would care to remember.
On Monday, the 32-year-old - casually dressed after flying in from Italy with his father - was presented to the assembled Williams factory workforce as their new signing for 2014 on a multi-year contract.
"I see myself coming here as a leader for the team," he told Reuters in the team museum, in front of cars driven by the likes of Brazilian triple champions Ayrton Senna and Nelson Piquet.
"A leader for a very important change inside this team, to put this team in a good position in the championship, I'm really ready for that, happy. I feel very motivated for the second half of the season but also for next year and I hope we can do a fantastic job together with Williams going back to a good fight and a great fight for the championship as well," he added.
"I think the really important thing is that Williams wants to have me inside their team in whatever situation and I think that's really important and it gives me a lot more motivation to start something from zero you know."
Massa has 11 wins with Ferrari to his credit and missed out on the 2008 championship by a single point to Britain's Lewis Hamilton.
While he has not won a race since 2008, the year before he suffered a near-fatal head injury at the Hungarian Grand Prix, and has stood on the podium only once this season with a third place in Spain, the Brazilian believed he still had plenty to look forward to.
"I believe when I don't think that anymore I will do a different thing, I will not race anymore," he said. "I believe I can win races, I believe I can do a great job together with Williams and I'm really looking forward to that.
"I think Williams is a team that has all the big infrastructure to build a new car. This year is not a good year for Williams but looking how the rules will change for next year and looking how the cars will be completely different than what we have now I think it's a good time, I think it's a good time to come here," continued the Sao Paulo driver, whose final race for Ferrari will be in his home city this month.
The regulations are changing significantly next season, with a new V6 turbo engine and energy recovery systems.
Williams, winner of nine constructors' titles between 1980 and 1997, are also going through further change with a switch from Renault to Mercedes power.
Massa replaces Venezuelan Pastor Maldonado, with Finland's Valtteri Bottas staying, at a team that has fallen so low that this year ranks as its worst ever season with just one point on the board.
Where others might see a struggle ahead, the Brazilian saw only potential and said he had no doubt that he made the right choice.
"I think that's very important, it's very nice to be in this team, a team that was very important for Brazil and I hope it will again, be very important for Brazil," he said.
Next year will be the first time Massa has raced a Formula One car without a Ferrari engine in the back of it and he said he was eager to get started.
"We're going to a V6 turbo so it will be a bigger change, anyway I'm really convinced that our new engine, Mercedes that we're going to have next year, is good, they know what to do," he said. "Many people are talking well about Mercedes for 2014 so I think it's already a good start, I think already it's a good step and we need to work on the car now." - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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