Zoom To each his own, suggests Massa

Felipe Massa has said he does not expect his Ferrari teammate and reigning World Champion Kimi Raikkonen to help him win the 2008 title.

"Whether I do it or not is completely separate to what Kimi or anyone else does," the Brazilian told the German newspaper Welt am Sonntag.

"I am sitting in the car, I am the one who wins races or makes mistakes. It is my game," the 27-year-old added.

Massa said his relationship with Raikkonen, nicknamed 'the Iceman', is strictly professional: "We work with each other and want Ferrari to be World Champion. But we are not friends; we have no private relationship."

"If we are together in a meeting, when it is finished he opens the door and is gone," he said.

He is much closer to Michael Schumacher, who Massa describes not as a former teammate or team advisor, but "like an older brother."

Massa said he believes he can beat Lewis Hamilton, the high-profile championship leader who drives for McLaren, to the crown.

"Otherwise I should not even be sitting in a Ferrari," he insisted.

© CAPSIS International
Source: GMM