Formula One news

Emotional Massa stands proud in face of defeat

A very emotional Felipe Massa fought back the tears after the Brazilian Grand Prix after losing out on the championship by a point to Lewis Hamilton.

"The race was just perfect," said Massa, who led from the start and looked untouchable all afternoon, despite changeable conditions. "We did everything fantastically and with such difficult weather at the start and at the end with the rain, I'm so proud about this race and the team and the people around who have supported me more than ever, more than 100 per cent and much more than I expected."

When Massa took the chequered flag Hamilton was down in sixth, and it looked like he'd overhauled a seven-point deficit to the McLaren driver. However, in the final corner, Hamilton caught Timo Glock, who was struggling on dry tyres in wet conditions and in those few hundred metres to the finish line, took fifth place, and the extra point he needed to silence Massa and the Brazilian crowds.

"It's really and emotional day for me because you're here and you've almost done everything perfect with the championship at the end, but then we saw Lewis passing Glock again and that really mixed a lot of emotion," Massa said.

"But that's racing, it finishes at the chequered flag and we won which we have to be proud of," he added. "Unfortunately we missed it by one point, but that's racing, we need to be proud about the job we've done and the race, and our championship. I know how to win, I know how to lose, that's one more day of my life I'll learn a lot with, but for sure I'm very emotional."

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