Zoom Massa supports Ferrari's sporting grounds reasoning

If Ferrari were to leave Formula One at the end of the season, team drivers Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen will have to look elsewhere to further their racing careers, but both fully support the decision.

For Felipe Massa, who accomplished a lifelong dream when he joined the famous Italian marque, it is obviously far from a perfect scenario. However the Brazilian fully backs Ferrari's plan to leave F1 if the 2010 regulations imposed by the FIA are not corrected to remove the 'two-tier' format.

"I understand the motivation, why the company got to this point," Massa indicated in a statement. "The idea of having a Championship with two velocities, with cars, which for example are allowed to have flexible wings or an engine without a rev limiter, is absurd."

"For a driver racing a Ferrari in Formula 1 is a dream and I made mine come true," he continued. "Since I was a child Ferrari has been the synonym for racing for me; that's why I'm convinced that even if the Scuderia is forced to leave Formula 1, there will be other competitions, where it will be possible to admire the Reds on the track. "

Team-mate Kimi Raikkonen, although it is rumoured that his intentions are to retire from the sport at the end of his contract, agrees nonetheless that things would not be the same in F1 without Ferrari - the only team to have participated in every championship campaign.

"It's difficult to think of a Formula 1 without Ferrari," he said. "When I drove for McLaren the Scuderia from Maranello was the benchmark, the competitor you had to be compared with. Since I arrived here I understood that it is much more than just a team, it's a legend, perpetuated via its road and racing cars."

"I always thought of Formula 1 as the pinnacle of motor sports, in terms of competition and technology," the Finn added. "I can't imagine drivers racing each other on the track with cars built according to different rules; that wouldn't be good for the sport itself or for the fans."

"If that should happen, it would be too bad and I understand that a company like Ferrari is thinking about racing somewhere else," Raikkonen concluded.

Daniel BASTIEN
© CAPSIS International