Williams: “Massa is exceptional”
Vice-world champion in 2008 with Ferrari, Felipe Massa will approach the season in a suit other than that of the Scuderia for the first time in nine years. For Pat Symonds, Williams' technical director, the Brazilian more than meets expectations.
After his announced departure from Ferrari, Felipe Massa’s future seemed to darken, and the chances of remaining in a competitive car dwindled with the announcements from teams for 2014. However, his arrival at Williams—a team adrift for about a decade—seemed to coincide with the consolidation of new and necessary foundations for a resurgence. An impression confirmed a few months later during testing, where the Grove team, benefiting from the timely switch from Renault engines to Mercedes engines, appeared at ease.
For Pat Symonds, technical director of the Williams Martini Racing team, Felipe Massa is a driver of great value: « He is exceptional. I didn’t know exactly what to expect because I didn’t know him particularly well before he joined Williams, but he is excellent. »
The Briton added, for our colleagues at Autosport: « He is very fast, which we knew, and he provides good feedback, concise without fuss; it’s just: “Here’s what happened. » The Brazilian’s experience, in Formula 1 since 2002 – including eight years at Ferrari – will be an important factor in rebuilding the team and adapting to the technical innovations related to the hybrid engine block and its management.
Pat Symonds does not fail to highlight the collective atmosphere at Williams and the involvement of the Brazilian: « He is a fabulous team player and a charming person. He was there every test day, even when he wasn’t driving, just like Valtteri. They both work hard and want to move things forward. Felipe is part of the team’s renewal that believes in itself again. »
For the engineer, Felipe Massa is hungry and wants to succeed within the Grove team: « I noticed that when we spoke with him for the first time, that he was hungry. He hasn’t finished certain things, and he is definitely going to take advantage of this to complete some of those things. »
Pat Symonds arrived in Formula 1 in the early 1980s, working for Toleman and then, through successive ownership changes, for Benetton and Renault. He was Michael Schumacher’s race engineer before, after the German driver’s departure and Ross Brawn’s move to Ferrari, becoming the Technical Director of the team and then Executive Director of Engineering. In 2008, he was involved in the Crashgate scandal and was dismissed by Renault. He returned to F1 in 2011 as a consultant for Virgin F1 before joining Williams in the summer of 2013.
