By FIA (22/4/2004)
April 23 2004

Felipe Massa answers questions at the FIA Thursday press conference prior to the San Marino Grand Prix. Massa finished in 8th place for Sauber in the 2002 race, and will look to score points again this year. Q: Felipe, you're not tempted to do something like this[referring to Jarno Trulli's participation in a half-marathon last week], are you?

Felipe MASSA: Yeah, but I never did a half marathon. Maybe a marathon, but actually I run also. I try to run every day, every three days when I'm not testing. But I will do it some time, but not at the moment.

Q: Having tested for Ferrari last year, how do you feel coming back to Sauber again? How much do you feel you've changed?

FM: There are a lot less people in the team. I already knew everybody that at Sauber, they are very professional people and I'm really happy to be back, especially as a race driver. I think the new Sauber car is a lot better than last year's Sauber. I did a back-to-back which was very good. I'm really happy. For sure we knew that the first three races would be very difficult and they were very difficult for us, but at least we scored a point in Malaysia and I think now we can improve. I trust in everybody in the team and I think now with the wind tunnel, we can improve.

Q: What did you learn, yourself, as a test driver last year with Ferrari?

FM: I particularly learned on the technical side. I learned quite a lot. Now I understand a lot more in terms of what it means to be a Formula One driver, especially on the technical side of things. I also learned a lot, how to work with the engineers, watching Rubens and Michael working the engineers, so I learned a lot there as well. That's it. I think that year by year, experience is very important and I think after a year race driving with Sauber, and a year test driving with Ferrari, I've learned quite a lot.

Q: Some people have referred to this year's Sauber as being a blue Ferrari.

FM: No, that's not true. Everybody knows that we have a Ferrari engine, Ferrari gearbox… I think it's a shame to build a completely different car from Ferrari, so I think we have built our own car. It's our chassis, we built it, and we work on that. But it's not true. It's our car, we built it and that's it.

Questions from the floor:

Q: (Anne Giuntini - L'Equipe): How was the football match yesterday? How was it meeting the fabulous Brazilian team?

FM: It was very interesting because in the first half of the match, I think it was better just to stop and watch the Brazilian guys playing, because it was amazing, they are really good and they were just joking with us. It was unbelievable to see how they play. And some of them don't play any more, but they are still very fit and very strong. It's unbelievable, very nice. Then in the second half, we mixed it up a bit, everybody together, and then it was much better.

FM: It was also funny because when I was young, a child, I was sometimes thinking I could maybe be a football player, you know? And now I have the answer. It is really impossible. To watch them play… it's really impossible to be a football player. It's better to drive a car and concentrate on Formula One, because it's nice to play and have fun, but after we saw how they played - it's impossible.

Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speed Sports News): For both of you guys, can you give us some of your memories of Ayrton Senna, not of the sad day when he crashed here, but other memories of that fantastic driver.

FM: First of all, he was an incredible driver. I think he was part of the history of Formula One, and sport in general. As a Brazilian, I have to say that he opened a lot of doors for Brazilian people, for Brazilian drivers. I think the Brazilian drivers have a lot of respect in Formula One, after Ayrton and he was an incredible driver. I remember the race in Donington when he overtook a lot of cars at the start in the rain. I think he overtook everybody on the first lap in four corners. It was an amazing race. There are a lot of memories, but I think this race was really impressive for me.

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