Massa takes comfort from second family

30/03/2012

While media and fan criticism of him continues, Felipe Massa has returned to Maranello, to his second family, in an attempt to turn his season around.

Following another disappointing race in Malaysia, the Brazilian finds himself under further attack from both the media and fans, some of the criticism bordering on the offensive.

As he and his team struggle to discover why he has had such a poor start to his year, Massa has returned to Maranello meeting with his engineer Rob Smedley and Pat Fry, in an attempt to understand the "reasons behind these two bad weekends".

"I am disappointed, there is no denying it," he admits in his latest blog for his team, "not scoring any points in two races hurts, but now it's time to turn the page. It's the not the first time I've gone through a difficult moment like this and I know well that things can change quickly, but now is the moment to do my utmost because I want this negative period to come to an end. I want things to return to normal, to a situation in which I can show my talent as I have always done and as the team knows I can do.

"I was very happy to read and hear what was said by President Montezemolo, our boss Stefano Domenicali and my team-mate Fernando. Their words did not come as a surprise, because I know I can count on the support of what is a real second family for me, which is what Ferrari has been to me for all these years. I feel there is confidence around me, that the team is united in its support for me and that is very important. Now I want to transform that into results to pay back all this support.

"Now, I am heading home to Monaco to spend a few days with my family, then next week I will be back in Maranello for further meetings with the engineers and for a bit of time working on the simulator. Pat ran through with me the details of the F2012 development programme and we hope we can slightly improve our performance already in Shanghai. Both there and at Sakhir, one of my favourite tracks, we will once again be fighting on the counter-attack, trying to fine tune the car as well as possible to make the most of any opportunity, just as Fernando did in Sepang.

"The championship looks like being long and closely contested, with many teams seemingly able to fight for the top places and it only takes a little to find yourself in the front or the back. We hope we can make good progress as soon as possible and put ourselves solidly in the lead group!"