(from autosport) Q. You have arrived in a new country and at a new track. Is it easy to deal with? Felipe Massa: I think you can have a little bit of fun. I arrived here on Tuesday morning so I had a little bit of time to go around and visit the country. It is an interesting country to be in. The expectations for the race are very, very high - from the driver but also from the people here. Everyone is excited by the first night race in Singapore so things are going very interesting at this moment. And for sure we are excited about running around the new track and learning the new track which is interesting and difficult as well. In this moment, the excitement is pretty high. Q. How does this track compare to others? FM: I think it is a little bit of a mix between Valencia, Melbourne and Monaco. It is a bit of a mix. It is much slower than Valencia, but quicker than Monaco. Some places are similar to Melbourne and Montreal so it is quite interesting to be honest. There are some tricky corners and we need to learn them as quickly as possible. Q. How are you dealing with the time issue? What time are you waking up and going to sleep? FM: Yesterday at 3am I was walking the track, which is pretty unusual and pretty funny in a way. I am trying to keep to the European time sleep around 5am and wake up around 12.30pm 1pm. So it is very funny the way things are going, because you are on a completely different time to the country. But I think that is the right direction because the race will be like two o'clock in Europe. Q. You mentioned in Monza that one of the key concerns for Ferrari was the tyres, and getting them working at the right temperature. After the test last week, can you give us an update on how things are on this front? FM: I think the test went very well, but for sure you can never test something at Mugello or Jerez looking at this track, because they are completely different circuits. So the test was looking a bit at the problem but also for the next races China or Japan which is closer to Mugello. Our car has been built in this direction, to use the tyres in a very good way for less degradation. And for some tracks that is perfect but when there are hard tyres and a very difficult surface then we can suffer. But it is not something we can change overnight. It is something we need to understand with the right set-up, and the best way to work on this kind of track. Q. There is just one point between you and Lewis Hamilton. How do you feel about the championship battle? FM: It is a big competition. We saw this year that we had some up and downs me and Lewis, Kimi, even Robert. I think this time we were able to have some good races in the last few Grands Prix, which is very important for the championship. Now it will be another four very, very important races. And who is able to do a better job, to be quick, very consistent and reliable, maybe will be the winner. Q. McLaren's appeal against Spa was deemed inadmissible. Is that a big relief to you, because otherwise he would have been seven points ahead? FM: We don't need to think about that we need to think about the championship, which is open. I think it was, in a way, looking at the rules, that the appeal was going to be very difficult for them. But you never know until we have the results. I think the result was pretty fair. But I am not thinking about that, I am thinking about this race. It is much more important than the media political pushing, so we need to think about the race which is our main job. Q. But it affects you because of the championship gap? The last few races appear to have been a bit difficult despite a good haul of points. Are you hoping to change that and go for the win? FM: I always hope for that. When you can win it is always fantastic. I always hope to do the best I can, to work in the best direction in the team to have everything perfect to win. It will be the first time here in this track, it can be good but it can be difficult. We just need to do our job in the best way we can for the best result. We have four races now, which can be very important for everybody. Q. Stefano Domenicali said you had a meeting with Luca di Montezemolo recently. Is that right, and what did he say? FM: We have many meetings, to be honest. It didn't change anything. We are a team and want to win both championships. We just need to do our best. Q. So you are expecting Kimi to support you in the racing? FM: I don't expect anything. I expect me to do the best job and if I can win races, all four of them, then that will be best. Otherwise we need to finish in the best position possible. I am expecting to do my job in the best way I can, knowing that we have a very good possibility to win the drivers' championship and a very good possibility to win the Constructors' Championship. We need to think in that direction. Q. What could go wrong with a night race? FM: Well, I think in terms of the track, it is brand new and we need to have the first heat on the track to have an idea of how it is going to be. It is a very tricky track. It has some corners that are very tight, like Turn 10. It is a very tight chicane, which also has some big bumps after the chicane and if you miss the line then you could damage your car. So, I think it will be a very tricky track to learn exactly the lines and everything. At street tracks there are more possibilities to make mistakes or less space to get back on. That is always a little bit of an issue, which we see many times in Monaco although in Valencia it was not such a problem. This circuit is a mix between Monaco, Valencia, Montreal and Melbourne so for sure it won't be an easy race. Hopefully we won't have a big black out, because then it will be very difficult. Q. The decision of the stewards in Spa remains a very controversial topic, despite McLaren losing their appeal. If you win the championship by less than the six points you gained there, do you think it will take the shine off your success? FM: No. Definitely not. If I win the championship by one point, I am the winner. It doesn't change anything. ******************************************************************************************* (secondary article/interview) Felipe Massa says he would be a worthy world champion even if he wins the title by one point, despite the controversy of the Belgian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver inherited the win at Spa after Lewis Hamilton was penalised for cutting a chicane when battling with Kimi Raikkonen. The victory allowed Massa to score four points more than Hamilton, who was dropped down to third. The Briton now leads the Brazilian by just one point with four races to go. But despite winning the race off the track, Massa is adamant it will not change anything if he goes on to win the title. "No. Definitely not. If I win the championship by one point, I am the winner. It doesn't change anything," Massa told reporters in Singapore. The Brazilian insisted he was not interested in dwelling on the controversy, but he did say he thought the FIA decision to reject McLaren's appeal was fair. "We don't need to think about that - we need to think about the championship, which is open," said Massa of the FIA decision. "I think it was, in a way, looking at the rules, that the appeal was going to be very difficult for them. But you never know until we have the results. I think the result was pretty fair. "But I am not thinking about that, I am thinking about this race. It is much more important than the media political pushing, so we need to think about the race which is our main job." Massa also said he is not thinking about getting help from teammate Raikkonen in the remaining races, despite the Finn being nearly out of contention. "I don't expect anything," added Massa. "I expect me to do the best job and if I can win races, all four of them, then that will be best. Otherwise we need to finish in the best position possible. "I am expecting to do my job in the best way I can, knowing that we have a very good possibility to win the drivers' championship and a very good possibility to win the constructors' championship. We need to think in that direction."
