Felipe Massa has revealed the very different tactics used by Michael Schumacher and Fernando Alonso as teammates at Ferrari.
The Brazilian partnered with the two drivers at different stages during their career, joining the Italian team in 2006 in what would be Schumacher’s final year in red, while Alonso was still in his prime and desperate to achieve his third Formula 1 title when he arrived in 2010.
And commenting on which was better, Massa explained how the pair were the same but also different.
“The best and most hardened teammate was Alonso,” he said during an Instagram Q&A. “I don’t want to beat Michael on that, but Alonso was without a doubt just as talented and fast.
“Schumacher had the power within the team when I came in and felt like an older brother. However, being with Alonso was the same, but he managed to get everything to his advantage.”
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Massa then spoke of the lengths Fernando went to, to establish himself during his first year at Ferrari and how it began after the Spaniard had won in Bahrain.
“It was raining in Australia [at the second race] and we were in third and fourth place. Fernando stayed behind me and then the team asked me to leave him in front,” Felipe said.
“I refused because it didn’t make any sense, but you’re mentally broken. It wasn’t fair and then he mentally tried to crack me so I would finally do what he wanted.”
2010 also saw the infamous “Fernando is faster than you” moment at Hockenheim, and the four years Massa spent with Alonso were often highlighted by the gulf in performance between pair.
“I suffered a lot as Alonso’s teammate,” he continued.
“Not necessarily because the work wasn’t fun and I got on well with him, but within the team, he managed to get everything behind my back, so he always got his way.
“With Kimi [Raikkonen], I never had this problem and so I had to work hard on this in my fight with Alonso.”