F1 News, Reports and Race Results

Mentality in F1 unchanged over the years - Massa

Felipe Massa believes today's F1 is no different than the world he was introduced to when he started his career in 2002.

For all the criticism directed towards the sport, F1's issues  have pretty much remained the same according to the 36-year-old.

"In the moment that I started, overtaking was very difficult, we didn’t have DRS and everyone was complaining about the same thing," Massa told Motorsport.com.

"They said ‘ah, we need to overtake’, ‘ah, we cannot follow the cars’, ‘ah, the top teams have more than the other teams’, ‘ah it’s too expensive’…

"What is different? I don’t really see a big change. Maybe in that time, teams spent even more money than they are now but the gap between the best and the worst was huge, like it is now.

"This is F1. Hopefully it will change in the future, but I didn’t see a big change."

Despite the technological evolution, Massa believes the job at hand and how a driver achieves success hasn't changed. 

"They are different cars but the mentality – the way you are driving, what you put into the car, how you try to get the best out of the car – is no different.

"It’s just different types of cars, different rules, different tyres, different engines. To be an F1 driver, you need to be the best and you need to take the best out of the car.

"It was always like that in F1, it hasn’t been anything different from when I started to now. How things work is not so different."

Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter

 

Michael Delaney

Recent Posts

Tsolov handed dual Red Bull reserve role for 2027 F1 season

Nikola Tsolov missed out on an immediate promotion to Formula 1, but Red Bull has…

2 hours ago

Former Liberty boss Maffei predicts F1 could be sold within two years

Formula 1's remarkable commercial ascent may be approaching another defining moment, with former Liberty Media…

4 hours ago

Russell launches GR63 Academy to unearth future racing stars

George Russell is putting something back into the sport that helped shape his career, launching…

4 hours ago

Verstappen delivers blunt verdict on Ferrari's driver pairing

Max Verstappen has little sympathy for Ferrari's latest intra-team tensions. The four-time world champion believes…

6 hours ago

Lawson gets the nod as Racing Bulls settles 2027 line-up

Racing Bulls has finally settled one of F1’s remaining driver-market questions, confirming that Liam Lawson…

8 hours ago

McLaren presses on: More upgrades incoming for Las Vegas

McLaren has surrendered its F1 Constructors’ crown, but Andrea Stella has made it clear that…

9 hours ago