Former F1 driver Felipe Massa is hoping to make motorsport part of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
Since retiring from Formula 1, Massa has been appointed president of the FIA’s karting commission. It's in that capacity that he's working to get the sport into the Olympics.
In particular, he's putting his weight being getting electric karting to take off around the the world. A demonstration of the nascent sport will be part of the Youth Olympics taking place in Buenos Aires later this year.
“There will be an event in Argentina, at the end of the year, an event of the Olympics," Massa told the Brazilian TV show Conversa com Bial this week. “The idea is to take electric karts to the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
“Electric karts are right at the beginning,” he acknowledged. “There are many things to develop in order to decrease the weight of the battery, because the battery is heavy.
"When it comes to kids, if you crash - if you roll - the weight of the kart makes a difference," he pointed out. "But it will take a very short time, because the development rate on it is very fast."
The success of the FIA's Formula E all-electric single-seater championship has given new impetus to similar environmentally conscious racing initiatives. As well as karting, there are plans for similar electric touring car and rallycross competitions.
But whether motorsport will ever be part of the Olympics is an entirely different matter. The FIA is a member of the International Olympic Committee’s association of recognised international sporting federations, but motor racing has never featured in the history of the Games.
Regardless of the outcome, Massa is pleased to be a part of the campaign to get more exposure for electric karting as a whole. He himself will be making his Formula E début later this year, having signed up to race for Susie Wolff's Venturi team in the fifth season of the championship.
©Venturi
"The thing that I miss most is the competition," he admitted of his post-F1 life. "When you're talking about proper competition, I think Formula E has good competition.
"It's true that Venturi have never won a race, but they were very close to winning [last] season and they've managed some very good results as well."
Massa said that it was the idea time for him to be joining the series as it introduces new hardware for the first time since it began.
"When it is a new season, a new car, it's a big change for everybody, so it is impossible to say who is going to win the championship next year," he said.
"But if you see everything that the team is preparing, it's quite interesting and I really hope that we can have a competitive car.
"[Formula E] is more unpredictable. You never know: when everything is new things can happen in the right way, or may be less than what you expected.
"My goal is to be competitive, the best as I can give. My goal never changes in the whole of my career."
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