Felipe Massa hopes he can enjoy one last good result at his home race as the Williams driver prepares for his final Brazilian Grand Prix at Interlagos, after announcing his retirement last weekend.
The Sao Paulista, who grew up racing on the kart track located just outside the gates of the Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, has had success with two wins for Ferrari in 2006 and memorably 2008 but in recent years it hasn’t been so enjoyable with a penalty costing a good result in 2013, disqualification in 2015 and the crash in the wet last year.
The scenes of the 15-year F1 veteran returning to the pit-lane afterwards and being given a guard of honour by some teams remain emotional even if they turned out to be premature and Massa hopes the circumstances will be different when saying goodbye for sure on Sunday.
“Brazil, my home race! It is always very special, and I will never forget what happened last year. Last year’s result was terrible, but the love, people and reception I witnessed was amazing,” he said.
“It’s fantastic to race at home, in the place where I started my career, and I’m looking forward to having a good race. I’ve had many good races in Brazil. Unfortunately, the last two years I didn’t but I really hope we can this year and I can enjoy being in my town, with my people.
“I really hope we have a good result, that is the most important thing.”
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On Thursday, the 36-year-old appeared in the press conference, before the action at Interlagos gets underway on Friday, and he was asked what he will take away from his extra year on the grid, after putting off retirement to replace former teammate Valtteri Bottas.
“I think I definitely enjoyed to drive the car for all these rules that have been changed from last year to this year,” he said. “It’s a lot of fun this car to drive, a lot more downforce. I definitely enjoyed it a lot.
“Unfortunately I was a little bit unlucky in some races otherwise I could have scored massive points. I expected maybe a season that would have been a litle bit more competitive than how we were.
“But I definitely enjoyed having fun by driving the car. I’m happy that I’ve been able to take the best out of this car when I didn’t have any problems. I think it was a season that I definitely enjoyed. I think it will be nice to remember this season, the way you drive this car, for many years to come.”
