Massa ready to go out on a high after 'perfect' qualifying laps

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This weekend's Abu Dhabi Grand Prix will be the last-ever Formula 1 outing for Williams driver Felipe Massa - and he's determined to go out in style.

The 36-year-old pulled out all the stops in qualifying to prove that he was still at the top of his game. He successfully made it through to the final round of the session, pipping the likes of Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz on the way.

"I’m so happy with the qualifying and with my lap," he said afterwards. "I just managed to get to Q3 and I got the best out of the car.

"It was good," he said. "I don't know how I got into Q3 - I was just on the limit. But I was quite happy with my laps.

"Almost like perfect laps - that's where it counts at the end. Tenth is the best position I could have achieved today."

Asked by Sky Sports F1 what his approach has been on Saturday, he replied: "Try everything you can. Try the best you can. Brake late, go a little throttle.

"The last two corners were really great," he added. "Even trying to go sideways and everything else. Just trying to get the best out of the car. But sector one was great, and sector two was quite good as well - it was a good lap."

Massa admitted that grip remained the Achilles heel for the Williams FW40.

"The problem we have is that we put a lot of temperature into the rear tyres," he explained.

"Historically it's a long time already in the Williams, especially with the Pirelli tyres, when you start to put a bit of temperature in the rear it's just losing grip.

Bottas beats Hamilton to pole in Abu Dhabi

"You're sliding a bit more, especially in the high speed corners," he continued. "Here, when you get from corner 11 to the end it's the worst - all of these slow corners with the traction."

His qualifying effort certainly proved that Massa still has what it takes. But even so, he doesn't regret the decision to leave F1 after 269 Grand Prix starts.

"I think it's a good way to retire, actually - you finish with good lap times, good races, taking the best out," he said. "I’m finishing with my head held high, and showing that I’m at the top of competitiveness.

"I’m so happy with what I achieved and I’m really looking forward to tomorrow’s race. Some points would be great!

"I want to have fun. Nothing to lose!" he added. "Risk everything you can and let's have fun Really hope we can enjoy the race tomorrow like I did in Brazil. Ready to try!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.