Formula One news

Massa won't be distracted at home

Felipe Massa may be heading to his home race having enjoyed his most successful F1 season to date, and having taken his maiden F1 victory, but he is determined that the excitement of racing in front of his home crowds won't be a distraction. What is more, if he needs to pull over in his home race to help team mate Schumacher win the title - Massa says he will do it.

"For Brazilian race drivers, the Brazilian Grand Prix is of course very important, we come in for a lot of media attention and there is a great deal of pressure on us to do well," says Massa. "I have been here in Sao Paulo since just after the Japanese Grand Prix, simply getting on with my training programme and preparing as much as possible for the weekend."

"The pressure is not something that bothers me too much and I can deal with it quite well, although of course I have never raced at Interlagos with Ferrari, in a car that is capable of winning," he added. "If you look at my early days in Formula 1 with the Sauber team, I was always strong in difficult moments. I could come through them and recover and be stronger. So for sure, the Brazilian Grand Prix can be quite difficult in terms of being able to maintain concentration on the job of driving and working with the team on the track, but I know I am able to put the events and attention from outside the track to one side and concentrate on what I would like to do which is to win the race."

"It will be a difficult target to achieve but I am very motivated to do well here," he went on. "Of course, it is obvious that, given the situation in the Drivers' classification, for me to win the Brazilian Grand Prix, that would mean that Alonso is in a points scoring position, whereas if he is not, then my race will take on a different direction and it will be no problem for me to help Michael. I will even be happy to help him."

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