Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa has hit out at the new teams joining Formula 1 this season, suggesting that their relatively slow pace is bad for the championship and could pose a danger for the frontrunners.

Massa’s Ferrari team has been strongly critical of the way the increased F1 entry was handled, and the Brazilian said the newcomers’ lack of speed is a concern for him too.

“I hope they won’t be a danger,” said Massa in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reprinted on Ferrari’s website.

“There are six/seven teams one second apart while those teams are four seconds behind. It’s not good for the sport and not good for them: it’s like two different series.

“They’ll suffer. And we’ll suffer too, when we have them in front of us during qualifying.”

Lotus and Virgin were several seconds off the pace in pre-season testing, but are confident they will get up to speed given time and mileage, while fellow newcomer Hispania will not run until Bahrain next weekend.

Matt Beer – Autosport

Ferrari has announced that it has added Mirko Bortolotti, Daniel Zampieri and Raffaele Marciello to its Ferrari Driver Academy project, alongside first recruit Jules Bianchi.

Bortolotti and Zampieri have already tested for Ferrari as their prize for winning the Italian Formula 3 title in 2008 and 2009 respectively.

Having raced in Formula 2 last year, Bortolotti is set for a GP3 seat with Addax in 2010, while Zampieri will drive for Pons in Formula Renault 3.5.

Marciello, a 15-year-old karting graduate, will be placed in Italian single-seater category Formula Abarth (formerly Formula Azzurra) this year.

Ferrari has also revealed that the champion in new Brazilian series Formula Future Fiat will automatically become part of its Academy programme next year.

Matt Beer – Autosport

Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali is confident his Italian outfit is in the top group that will be fighting at the front of Formula 1 this season – but he has drawn short of saying his team is out in front.

With Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa both upbeat about the progress of the F10 in pre-season testing, Domenicali believes the defining factor this season will be in how quickly teams can bring updates to their cars.

“What we could see, and considering all the unknown factors in the testing, I think that we’ve shown that we can be competitive and are part of the top group in terms of pure performance and also on the long run,” Domenicali told the official Ferrari website.

“This is an important result considering how we Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa is happy with Ferrari’s preparation for the 2010 Formula 1 season, but does not believe it heads for Bahrain with any advantage over its rivals.

The 28-year-old Brazilian, who spent much of the final Barcelona test day running with a heavy fuel load, finished third quickest today.

Ferrari has been strong at all the pre-season tests – topping all three days at Valencia at the start of the month and regularly setting a strong pace on long runs. But Massa pointed to the narrow margins at the test today: eight cars were within half a second of Lewis Hamilton’s fastest lap for McLaren.

“I’m satisfied with the whole of testing, not just Barcelona,” said Massa. “Valencia and Jerez too – we did what we wanted to do, but it looks like it will be a very tough and competitive championship.

“We never expected to have an advantage and Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa was left lamenting the poor track conditions on the second day of this week’s testing at the Jerez circuit on Thursday.

For the second day running, the rain hit the Spanish track during the session, with strong winds making things even more difficult.

Massa, who managed 92 laps on his way to the fifth fastest time, admitted the day had been far from ideal.

“No, not really,” Massa said when asked if the day had been more useful than yesterday. “It was pretty similar conditions: raining, stopping, raining, stopping. Today the track was even much worse because of the very strong wind.

“It was not so positive, but it’s the same Read the rest of this entry »