Massa does not admit defeat…

Felipe Massa believes he is still capable of fighting for the championship win despite two consecutive retirements in the first two races of the season.

The Brazilian suffered an engine failure in Australia and went off the track in Malaysia after a very small lapse in attention. He is now 14 points behind the leader, Lewis Hamilton.

“It was not the start of the season I wanted,” said Massa.

« But there are still 16 races and 160 points available. Over the next races, I plan to make up for all my lost points. »

« Last weekend was extremely frustrating because this race was supposed to end with a one-two finish for the Scuderia, but as the saying goes, that’s racing!

Massa admits that the removal of traction control has made driving much more difficult but reaffirms that his early retirement in Sepang was not caused by it.

« We have had since the end of last season to get used to driving without electronic aids. As you have seen in the last two races, the removal of these seems to have caused more incidents, spins, and off-track excursions, » he added.

« The new regulation makes life more difficult for us, but I don’t think my off-piste excursion is the reason for it. I’ve had other problems that are not related to the anti-skid system. »