Massa Denies Conflict with Alonso

Felipe Massa insisted that his relationship with Fernando Alonso is a good one, despite their on and off the track dispute during the 2007 Nurburgring race. At the time, the Spaniard was fighting for the world title with Lewis Hamilton and a good result in Germany would have been vital for his title chances.

In the last part of that race – when rain started to pour down the Nurburgring track – Alonso managed to close the gap on Massa and eventually went for the win.

When passing the Brazilian driver, Massa tried to close the door on Alonso and touched his car. Happily for everyone, no one was forced out of the race as a result of the incident, but the two drivers did argue a while in the native tongue of Italy before going to the podium.

“Shortly after that, we got over it together. It's in the past. There are no problems between us,” said Massa in an interview with Brazilian TV station Globo.

However, just as he reckoned Alonso is one of the greatest drivers currently racing in Formula One, Massa insisted that he will not be threatened by the Spaniard next year. Just as he managed to cope with the pressure of driving alongside Michael Schumacher and Kimi Raikkonen in the past, he'll also succeed in “surviving” near Alonso.

“He is a great driver, but so were my two previous teammates, Kimi and Schumacher. I am calm. Today Ferrari is a team well able to work with two drivers. Raikkonen didn't talk much but we got on together well. He was a great teammate and I hope that Fernando is too. You know that in Ferrari you will always have a good driver next to you,” added the 28-year old Brazilian.