Massa Looks For Good Luck In Turkey

Felipe Massa says he’s hoping that this weekend he can regain the sort of form that won him three Turkish GPs in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

The Brazilian, who has led Fernando Alonso after the start in all three races this year, adds that his recent 30th birthday could be a good omen.

“I have to say that Istanbul is a very special place for me,” he said on the Ferrari website. “As it was here in 2006 that I took my first ever F1 victory, which is something no driver can ever forget. I remember it as an incredible win from pole position and also I recall the fact I finished ahead of Michael and Fernando, who were fighting for the championship that year, which all added to making it a great achievement.

“And after that, I made it a hat-trick, winning for the next two years, when I was definitely the fastest man on track. In fact, apart from the three wins from three poles, since I am in Ferrari I have always finished in the points at Istanbul Park, but I hope the Turkish wins won’t stop at three! It sounds strange, but looking back at my results in Istanbul and combining it with my recent significant birthday, it might even be a further motivation to get a good result this weekend.

“However, we must be realistic and I know we need a good improvement on the car, as we were not as strong as we expected in the first three races. But everyone in Maranello has been working very hard to produce some aero updates for this race, so hopefully we can be a bit stronger, even though these new elements cannot be considered to be a major upgrade. That is the story for this weekend, but we can expect more improvements to follow at the races immediately after this one.”

Massa says that ultimate qualifying pace is only part of the story in 2011, stressing that Ferrari looked strong in the race in China.

“If you look at our positions in qualifying at the last race, we did not have the performance to deliver a podium result, but during the race itself our pace was such that we were actually fighting for a top three finish. We cannot say now what the situation will be in Turkey, because if we have been working hard, then so have the other teams, but it is not impossible that we will find ourselves with a car capable of fighting for a podium.

“It is true that the tire situation is the same for everyone, but it is equally true that this could again be the key factor in deciding what happens in the race. The famous Turn 8 will be very important, because you really put a very heavy load on the tires at this corner so we need to think carefully about the car set-up to deal with it and control the degradation.

“One element that could make this a completely different situation is that, currently, the weather forecast predicts some rain on nearly every day of the race weekend, which means we and especially our strategists have to be very concentrated and ready for anything. I can’t remember rain in Istanbul, so it could make life interesting.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 26th season as a racing journalist in 2010. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

via FORMULA ONE – F1: Massa Looks For Good Luck In Turkey.