Felipe Massa says he can bounce back after his difficult 201o season, when he found himself playing second fiddle to new team mate Fernando Alonso.
Massa finished a frustrated sixth in last year’s championship, his season overshadowed by the Hockenheim team orders controversy. However the 2008 title contender is confident that he can be strong again this year.
“My target for this season is simple – to win races and to fight for the title,” said Felipe at Ferrari’s annual PR event in Italy. “I know that things didn’t go well last year but that is the past. I believe I can return to fight for the crown and I have nothing else in my mind.”
Massa struggled in 2010 to get the most out of the harder Bridgestone tyres.
“I was never comfortable with the tyres, in particular the front ones. I didn’t manage to adapt my driving style to those tyres, which were very different to the ones from 2009. That took its toll, especially in qualifying and when the available compounds were the hardest ones. There were never problems with motivation, not even after a difficult weekend like Hockenheim.
“Fernando was better than me but I know my potential and I know that the team believes in me. In the past I’ve always had very strong team mates, like Michael and Kimi, but I’d never found myself in a situation of not being comfortable with the car, as I had in 2010.”
Massa says he likes the latest rules package: “I think that these changes are going in the right direction. We will certainly have more buttons on the steering wheel and we will have to pay a lot of attention – for example with the buttons to activate KERS, which you don’t use all in one go but at different parts of the circuit according to the track and the moment. As for the rear wing, we won’t be able to make a judgement until the first races.”
Adam Cooper F1 
The big test for Massa will be in qualifying. In the past, his strength was putting in on pole and then leading from the front. In 2010, his strength became his weakness.
As well as the tyres, the fact that he is slighly lighter than Fernando may give him a small edge with the weight distribution.
Either way, it will be a fascinating year at Ferrari. Ferrari must feel like they owe Alonso a championship after Abu Dhabi, and at the same time we are likely to see a resurgent Massa.
Seems like Massa has become the king of the understatement, as well as king of the “for sure” competition!! Sorry to say, but Felipe will never be in the same class as Fernando while he has a hole up his ar5e. He just isnt strong enough to trouble Fernando in too many aspects of his driving. Safe to say 2011 will be exactly the same as 2010 for Massa, more completely anonymous races where he fails to get anywhere near the performances of his teammate. And this year, he will know that Ferrari will not stand for anymore of his bullsh!t holding up his faster teammate at ANY circuit!! If he manages to out-qualify Fernando anywhere, he will know to get out of the way AS SOON as Fernando starts pressuring him. #:)
It would’ve been even better if he had said “Fernando was faster than me”….
Felipe’s at about $20 (AUD) for 2011 to win the championship.
They are very tempting odds! If he can be consistent in the first half of the year, and gets some luck towards the end of the year (he’s surely due some good luck after many years of bad luck) he could be a chance.
Felipe is still seriously quick, he showed that in Germany, unfortunately he had his greatest moment of triumph handed over to his team mate. The bitterest pill of all must have been to watch that sacrifice ‘for the team’ pissed away at Abu Dhabi. I think there are two great big ‘if’s standing in Felipe’s way, ‘if’ Ferrari has a competetive car, and ‘if’ Ferrari lets him race when he’s doing better than Fernando, we’ll see something significant from Massa.