Felipe Massa on working relationship with Alonso at Ferrari: "Devastates you mentally"

Felipe Massa has strongly criticized Fernando Alonso and Ferrari, accusing his former teammate of working in an unfair manner during the four years they spent together from 2010 to 2013.

In the history of the partnership between Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa at Ferrari, one mainly recalls the famous team radio message during the 2010 Hockenheim Grand Prix, where Rob Smedley uttered the words: “Fernando is faster than you,” implicitly asking Felipe to let the Spaniard pass. Exactly ten years after bidding farewell to the Maranello team, the former Brazilian driver has revealed new significant behind-the-scenes details about his working relationship with Fernando.

Insights from Felipe Massa about his working relationship with Fernando Alonso at Ferrari

“I wanted to be ahead of him, him ahead of me,” said the Brazilian on the Track Limits podcast, recalling the time at Ferrari alongside Fernando Alonso – “I believe Fernando never had issues with him outside the car. Aside from the argument we had in 2007, I never had problems with him. I always got along with him as a person. But it wasn’t what he told me, and it wasn’t what he told the team.” – the former Ferrari man pointed out.

“His way of working was always typical of using his power. He had a lot of power and tried to use it to have everything on his side. I believe this divided the team. His way of working wasn’t great, but that’s how he is. I think the only problem with dividing the team in half was not good for the team itself.” – Felipe Massa explained – “To beat him, you have to be on your game. I was in many races, but something happened that put me in a difficult mental position, making me make mistakes or perhaps something that wasn’t going well.”

In the four years spent together in Maranello, Fernando Alonso demonstrated considerably more talent than Felipe Massa, especially in 2010 and 2012. The Spaniard managed to contend for the title against Sebastian Vettel until the last race, while Felipe barely managed to collect a few podiums and little else.

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The stats show a decisive lead for Fernando Alonso with 59 to 18 in qualifying and an even more substantial lead of 65 to 12 in races. These harsh numbers testify to the enormous talent of the Spaniard, who probably experienced the peak of his driving career at Ferrari.

The story about the simulator

“It wasn’t very fair,” adds Felipe. “I can’t say they did anything wrong, but the way we worked, the way the team looked at him, wasn’t really pleasant. For example, I remember once we started developing the simulator because Red Bull and McLaren had a significantly better simulator. So we were working very, very hard on the simulator, both him and I. Then suddenly, Fernando came halfway through the season and said, ‘I don’t want to go to the simulator anymore because it’s useless, it doesn’t add anything.'”

“So he decided to stop working on the simulator. But I kept working, also because I wasn’t in great shape, and in that season, we didn’t have a good car, so I was working really hard.”

“Then suddenly we went to Singapore, and he won the race. After the race, Luca di Montezemolo, who was our president, went to the media and said, ‘It’s incredible to see Fernando, how much he works with the team, every week at the factory, in the simulator, at meetings every week.’ So, even in this case, it’s something that completely destroys you mentally. I mean, he’s an extraordinary driver, his talent is incredible. But all the other details you need, you have to have them to be comfortable.” – the Brazilian said.

After four years in Fernando Alonso’s shadow, Felipe Massa decided to leave the Prancing Horse at the end of the 2013 Formula One season, joining the Williams project. The Brazilian had an excellent season in 2014, also thanks to the change in regulations on hybrid power units, finally hanging up his helmet for good at the end of 2017.

Felipe Massa on working relationship with Alonso at Ferrari