Felipe Massa has insisted that he never held any worries over his physical abilities, having finished runner-up to team-mate Fernando Alonso in the Bahrain Grand Prix on Sunday. The collection of 18 points marked a strong return for the Brazilian after his never-death experience in Hungary last year.
Having been struck on the head in July by an airborne steel spring, Massa was placed in an induced coma in a Budapest hospital and has since undergone various surgeries before making a remarkable recover. After achieving a front row qualifying position, the Paulista was highly pleased with both his and his team's performance at Sakhir.
"It would be impossible to have a better start to a season than to take maximum points from the race and that's exactly what Fernando and I managed in Bahrain," the Ferrari driver said on the team's website. "I had waited so many months for this first race but I was excited, rather than nervous, about sitting on an F1 start grid for the first time since last year's German Grand Prix.
"I never had any doubt about my condition because everything felt exactly the same as before my accident. When I was training, it was all going in the right direction and all the activities I did in normal life were as they had been before. All I had in mind was to do a good job for everyone, to get a good start for the season and not to do anything silly."
Admitting that the season-opener 'threw up some interesting lessons' in terms of tyre management, Massa is biding time before revealing his true opinion on the in-race refuelling ban.
"I have seen some criticism in the media that maybe the tyre rules and lack of refuelling made the Grand Prix boring to watch for the spectators, but I think it is too early to comment after just one race," he continued.
"However, it is true that the situation at the start of the race is that we are six to seven seconds slower than in qualifying. On Sunday you have a very heavy car with absolutely no grip in the early laps. Added to this, if you are following someone closely, trying to overtake, you lose more aerodynamic downforce - so these two factors combined mean it is even harder to overtake."
Series
Formula 1
Personalities
Felipe Massa
Teams
Ferrari
Other
Get your official Formula 1 tickets at Sportstadium.com
| Felipe Massa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 |  |  |  |
| More Felipe Massa photos | |||
English
Nederlands
Español
Italiano
