Brazilian hoping his Williams can mix it with Mercedes in Abu Dhabi
Monday 24 November 2014 15:15, UK
Felipe Massa hopes he can play a part in shaping the destiny of this year’s World Championship although the Brazilian says he doesn’t care who wins.
Nico Rosberg goes into this weekend’s Abu Dhabi GP double points finale seeking to overturn a 17-point deficit held by Mercedes team-mate Lewis Hamilton. The best way he can do that is by winning on Sunday but even then Rosberg needs Hamilton to finish lower than second.
Speaking after his victory in Brazil two weeks ago, Rosberg suggested that Massa – who finished third at Interlagos – could do him a favour. So might he oblige?
“I hope so,” Massa said on Thursday. “I hope we can be there; I hope we can be in a position to fight and to put our car in the fight with the Mercedes.
“It will not be easy, anyway – it will be difficult because we didn’t see that so much this year.
“We’ll try. We’ll try everything we can to achieve the best results we can for us.”
Massa and team-mate Valtteri Bottas have earned a string of top-three finishes this season for Williams, who currently stand third in the Constructors’ Championship and are defending a 44-point lead over Ferrari.
“It’s the most important race with the double points. We saw that our car was in good shape in the last race [and] fighting for the podium in most of the races,” he added.
Massa was in title contention himself, of course, back in 2008 when the title was settled in Brazil.
Famously, he did everything he had to do by taking the chequered flag, only to have the World Championship prised from his grasp at the last possible moment when Hamilton’s McLaren passed Timo Glock’s Toyota to finish fifth.
That Massa might – literally - stand between Hamilton and a second title is ironic indeed, although the man himself thinks the Briton would be a more deserving champion.
“The only thing [Rosberg] needs to do is win the race and be lucky that maybe something happens to Lewis or maybe for whatever reason we are there, or another team,” added Massa.
“I don’t care for who is going to win the championship to be honest. I just care for my race and just care to keep fighting for a good position like I had in Brazil.
“If Lewis wins or Nico wins, I don’t care. But maybe Lewis deserves it a little bit more, compared to the championship he did compared to Nico.
“He won more races; I think maybe he did a better championship. But ‘deserves’ sometimes is a little bit different in sports!”
