Live from the Cockpit: Home boy Felipe Massa on the Brazilian GP

I am definitely having the last laugh as far as my exclusion from Ferrari is concerned. I have been with the team for a long time and made a lot of life-long friends there, but well… Get this: Ferrari kicks me out, brings Kimi back again (who was unceremoniously chucked out in 2009), I go to Williams, the F14T is a dog of a car and Williams is ahead of Ferrari in Constructors’ Championship. So much for having two roosters in the same coop. Williams has produced a brilliant car for the first time in many years, and I consider myself lucky to be here when that has finally happened. For a long time now, I have had to don the role of a submissive second driver, and being at a team other than Ferrari is doing wonders for me. Williams too pulled a “_____ is faster than you” card on me at Sepang, but I refused to let Valtteri pass and the message was conveyed. All I want is to be a racing driver who will fight to keep his position, and I will not regret doing something like that again. Admittedly though, Valtteri has been getting more out of the car than me, and he has the points to prove it. But I am relishing the year, and living to fight the next race after each one.

Second Finn I have had to deal with. This one's a lot easier! :-)

This weekend we arrived at Interlagos, Sao Paulo; the track where I won the race but lost the championship. Home races invoke positivity in the driver, and when the crowd cheers for you, the drive and determination gets doubled. You can feel the energy pulsating through the whole place, and it eggs you on. It is an enormous sensation. Interlagos is a track which is very dear to me because of that, and winning or being on the podium here is the most special emotion in the world.

In other news, four cars were off the grid for the race. Caterham and Marussia ran into organizational and financial problems, and did not compete. It is a huge concern, and having been in a teamwith both limited and unlimited resources, I have come to appreciate the delicate nature of cost-cutting in F1. Caterham also launched a crowd-funding project to raise funds and compete in the remaining races, which is basically an auctioning of used car parts to collectors and enthusiasts. At the time of writing this entry, Caterham has managed to scrape through, and will be racing in Abu Dhabi. I am also very happy for our test driver Felipe Nasr, who has bagged a seat at Sauber next year.

Brazilian Grand Prix

Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace or Interlagos in Sao Paulo always makes me think of gladiator arenas. The circuit is built into an indented piece of land surrounded by the city, and the depression makes it look like a pit or an arena with the grandstands serving as viewing galleries. It is one of the most loved tracks on the calendar, and my personal favourite. It is an anti-clockwise track, but after racing in Austin, we have already got used to it. Interlagos has hosted many season finales, and the races here have always been exciting, more so with the rains butting in sometimes. Pirelli brought their medium and soft tire compounds for the weekend, and the bumpy, abrasive track meant that there will be a lot of pitstops.

Friday and Saturday Practice Sessions

FP1 saw me coming out as soon as the pitlane light was green, and after an installation lap we got down to the business of fine-tuning. We ran both the compounds in the session, and observed that the there was a lot of wear on the Pirellis. I also had a moment in the closing stages when I went off at Mergulho and after a tussle got it back on track. I managed to post a ninth fastest time on the mediums and then dived for soft boots. The change of rubber shot me up to fifth , where I stayed. Nico topped FP1, 1.047 seconds ahead of me.

FP2 was uneventful, except for a fire on Fernando’s car, which brought out the red flags. My position kept fluctuating between fourth and sixth and Valtteri kept doing a slightly better lap than me on the softs every time. There was another red flag courtesy of Esteban, and I stayed sixth fastest behind Valtteri. Nico muscled himself into first place again, and I trailed him by 0.976 seconds this time. FP3 saw a resurgence from me and I beat Valtteri to bag third fastest time by nearly two-tenths of a second. Nico lead this session as well, but I closed the gap to him to 0.429 seconds.

Qualifying

Q1 gets a quick start as I drive car out to the track for the outlap, and to get to the optimum fuel load takes a few laps. On the third lap after the outlap, I set a time better than Valtteri in 3^rd, which is eventually beaten by Fernando and Nico. By the time Q1 ends, Valtteri and I are an easy 3-4 on the charts behind the customary Merc domination. Romain, JEV, Sergio and Pastor get eliminated in the shootout of the 18 cars.

We move on to the 15 minutes action of Q2. I go out after a few minutes into it, and promptly set the third fastest time behind Nico and Lewis. Valtteri is feisty though, when he swoops in to displace me down to fourth. In the final few minutes of Q2, I give it my all, and climb up to second behind Nico, Lewis apparently sand-bagging. Esteban, Hulk, Adrian and Daniel Kvyat get relegated.

The commencing of Q3 sees the air heavy with anticipation in the garage and the stands, because the Williams is clearly in good contention for a podium, and if something goes wrong with the Mercs, a potential win. Q3 is a quick-as-lightning 12-minute shootout, and as the pitlane lights turn green, there’s a scramble on the track. Valtteri locks up more than once, and the team warns me about it. Nico is keen on keeping his spotless record of being right at the top the whole weekend, and Lewis is constantly on the lookout to topple him. It is a crazy session. Nico loses no time in setting the top time, and Lewis is close behind. Valtteri goes third, and then I relegate him to fourth. I am just 0.052 seconds from Lewis after the first runs, and I hear the crowds erupt on every grandstand I pass. The final run sees the same scrap, and the positions remain the same. I have a chance at beating Lewis to second on my flying lap, but a ruined middle sector throws that away. So, qualifying session sees Nico, Lewis, me, Valtteri, Jenson and Sebastian in that order for the grid positions on Sunday.

Lewis looks not-so-happy

Race

There is something about Brazil which is unlike any other racing track; the urge to ace a home race of course, and also the enormous amount of positive aura around the track. This weekend my son also will be watching, and he is at an age where this will be imprinted in his mind forever. I almost am desperate to give a good show, and the pressure is huge as we all line up on the grid for the warmup lap. The fans are in their thousands, and I can spot Brazil colours all over the circuit. The cheers can be heard loud and clear above the meek sound of the V6 turbos as we go around for the usual warmup lap, and it feels me with verve and dread at the same time. After a particularly long weaving around the hot track, we wait on the grid for the five red lights to go out.

The rubber on the tires is hot and in optimum temperature, and Charlie Whiting does the honours of declaring the start. 18 V6 engines rev up and as the lights come on and go out, we launch ourselves out of the grid boxes. I get a quick and perfect start and emerge out of the Senna S in 3^rd position unscathed, and so do all the others. By the end of two laps into the race, we see no incidents but the guys warn me about an oilspill in Turn 2. 3 laps in and I see the two Mercs already 2 seconds ahead of me, and building up the gap further. The Pirelli soft rubber is already starting to show signs of wear, and the team takes the call of calling me in after lap 5. The stop is perfect and I switch onto medium tires. I head out and a lap later the team pits Valtteri. He is safely behind me after he heads out, and I gain some tenths having achieved the undercut.

Snaking through Senna's S after race start

The relieved feeling of having executed a perfect stop is short-lived as the stewards slap a 5-second stop-go penalty on me for speeding in the pits. Dang! This means that the next time I go into the pits, I have to wait for an extra 5 seconds before my tire-changing business. This means that Valtteri has a huge chance of jumping me. To add fuel to the fire, the team informs me that he has set the fastest lap. On lap 15, I am running 5^th, behind Nico and Lewis, who in turn are chasing down yet-to-pit Hulk and Daniel Kvyat. Nico and Lewis soon edge ahead and overtake Hulk and Daniel, leaving it to me to do the same honours. I chase down Daniel rapidly, and overtake him on the starting grid straight and hear the crowd cheer. It is a good energy and I put my foot down to chase Hulk and reclaim my third position only to realise that it already came relatively easy, as Hulk is in the pits the same time I am chasing Daniel. I take my spot at third position behind the Mercs, and I can see Lewis’s Merc ahead, just 4 seconds away. In a couple of laps, I can see Valtteri in my mirrors, around 3 seconds behind me, with Jenson hot on his heels.

Overtaking Daniel Kvyat

In the following laps, Lewis and Nico run their own private race as they edge away further and further from the rest of the grid. By lap 25, I am 16 seconds behind Lewis, who in turn is challenging Nico for first position at less than a second behind the latter. I come in for the scheduled stop on lap 26, when I also do a 5 second stop-go penalty. The team makes me wait longer than 5 seconds and I come back on track in 13^th position behind Daniel Kvyat. I am eager to see if Valtteri will beat me after he stops, courtesy of the ‘7-seconds penalty’, but he doesn’t. His stop also takes long, as the mechanics adjust his seatbelt and he comes back on track in 15^th position, behind Kevin too. By lap 29, the drivers yet to stop do the deed, and I see Hulk 4 seconds ahead of me in 4^th place behind Kimi, who has decided to do a two-stop race. Nico is still the leader, and at a comfortable margin ahead of Lewis, who has apparently gone for donut. I get down to business, which is chasing down Hulk and as we arrive at lap 37, I am o.924 seconds behind him. He chooses the same lap to pit, and I automatically get promoted to 3^rd, as Kimi has pitted already. The gap to Lewis now is 14.267 seconds, and it looks like I am going to have a quiet race from 3^rd position. But no, I can see Jenson close enough in my mirrors, and it turns out he is trailing me by 4.6 seconds. That is not a problem, because the two cars drift further apart from me as the race progresses. At lap 50, I am 23 seconds behind Lewis in 3^rd, and Jenson is 8.5 seconds behind me.

I pit on lap 51 for my final stop and visit the Mclaren pit for a quick hello before going to my own pit. It is a funny mistake, but in my defence they all look so similar in their white overalls. I change over to mediums to run to the end. It is a decent 3.6 seconds stop, and I emerge in 5^th behind Hulk and Fernando, who are yet to make their final stop. Fernando pits on lap 53, and I am promoted to 4^th position. Meanwhile, Lewis is still chasing Nico ahead of Hulk, and I am 0.625 seconds behind the Force India. I pass him easily again at the same spot into Senna S as I took Daniel Kvyat, and the crowds applaud as enthusiastically as before.

Hey Ron! I am better than Fernando!

I run a quiet race after that, as Lewis is 30 seconds ahead of me and Hulk’s Force India fades easily behind me, and on lap 62 Hulk pits to let Jenson take the 4^th position behind me. Jenson’s gap to me is a safe 12 seconds, so unless something horrible happens to my car, I have the podium in the bag. The situation ahead is not so laidback as me though, as Lewis chases Nico like a man possessed. He is within DRS distance of less than 1 second for the remaining 9 laps, but eventually fails to rail Nico in. On the last lap, I take the liberty of looking around at the crowd and the support overwhelms me as it always does. The race ends, Nico wins, Lewis comes a close second. I stand on the podium in my home race again, with my son watching and Brazil cheering, and it is the best feeling in the whole world.