Massa Eager To Race At The Top

Dale Calkins

Felipe Massa is quite excited to be making his Grand Prix debut for the Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro team this weekend in Bahrain. Massa predicts a strong showing from Ferrari which will allow him to compete with Honda, Renault and McLaren for the top positions. Here is what the young Brazilian had to say, ahead of this weekend's Grand Prix of Bahrain:

"I have high expectations for this weekend. This is where it starts for real as the talking stops and the racing begins and we will have a clear answer about where we stand. I am looking forward to driving a competitive car and I hope we will be fighting for the top place alongside Renault, McLaren and Honda.

I got a very nice reaction to my joining Ferrari back home in Brazil and I regard this as a very big opportunity in my career. I intend to keep my feet on the ground and try and be as competitive as possible right from the start."

Felipe also commented on the technical aspects of Ferrari's 28 F1 Championship contender, including the new V8 engine and its Bridgestone tyres:

"Our people have done a good job on the engine and also on the rest of the package. Personally, I like the V8 because it naturally has a bit less power than the V10 which means you can be much more aggressive on the throttle pedal and that suits my style of driving.

I think from a safety point of view it (tyre changing) is very good and also it improves the show for spectators. But we will have to wait and see what effect it has on the relative performance of the teams."

March 10, 2006

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