Massa Moves On, Begins Testing with Ferrari

Felipe Massa returned to the track for Ferrari in the second day of the Jerez testing, running a few laps in the second part of the Wednesday session. After testing a few long-distance setups for the Scuderia and getting used to the new standard slick tires at Jerez, Massa took the opportunity to show the media he has moved forward following the dramatic season finale in Brazil.

“I'm not the kind of guy who gets frustrated about this kind of thing. I won the race, I did the best job that I could and unfortunately we were not lucky enough in the last 15 seconds. That's life and I'm not frustrated because of that. I had a fantastic season, I learned a lot and that's also another important experience for the future.”

“I'm very happy with the support I have not just in Brazil but all around the world. We showed that we are competitive, we showed that we can win races and fight for the championship and that's enough to have good support. Support is always important to give you some good energy and some good motivation and I'm really happy to keep fighting and to make my experience and motivation even higher,” said Massa after recording the 10th best time of the day.

The Brazilian lost the chance to become world champion by a single point after one of the most thrilling season finales in history. The Ferrari-an won his home race in style, while Lewis Hamilton clinched the 5th spot – the last position at the finish line to secure him a maiden world title of his own – on the last corners of the last lap. He overtake Toyota's Timo Glock for 5th and 'stole' Massa the F1 crown.

The 2008 vice-champion hit the track on Wednesday for a total of 27 laps – less than any of the 11 drivers scheduled to test at Jerez – and admitted the new car feels different as compared to the 2008 machinery, especially because of the increased grip brought by the slick tires.

“The car is different to drive with much less downforce than we were used to this season. But the tires are much nicer to drive. When you have new tires the feeling is quite good but the tires get old quite quickly and then the car starts to become very difficult to drive, especially on the rear. But this car is not the car we are going to race next year.”

“We are building our new car to have a good balance with the low downforce so the concept from this car to next year's car is a little different. But it's good to understand and to learn on the tires especially on the downforce,” concluded Massa.