Felipe Massa secured his second visit to the podium of the season two weeks ago at Monza, holding off the challenge of Williams Martini Racing team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and the team head into the Singapore Grand Prix this weekend eager for more.
Brazilian veteran Massa hopes the team can deliver a good performance around the Marina Bay Street Circuit, but feels Singapore could be the less favourable of the remaining races for the FW37 to get a good result.
“It’s a fantastic race and I love to visit Singapore; the city is incredible and the people are really friendly,” said Massa. “There are a lot of passionate fans so I hope we can deliver a good performance.
“It’s not easy to get the set-up perfect and the tyres working in the ideal operating window, and these are challenges we will face from the start of the first session.
“Of the last remaining races this season this is probably the hardest track for our car, but that doesn’t mean we can’t deliver a good haul of points.”
Team-mate Bottas is eager to see how the changes to the layout of the track affects the running this year, but knows what ever happens it will be a challenging weekend due to the heat, humidity and the proximity of the walls.
“Singapore is a very cool place and quite unique in that it’s a night race,” said Bottas. “Being in the middle of the city I can walk to the circuit from my hotel which is convenient and adds to the sense of atmosphere.
“For the fans there is nothing more you would want really – you can see the city and racing all in close proximity.
“For the team it’s a challenging track as there are so many corners with different characteristics which makes it hard to get the balance perfect. The heat, humidity and intensity of the track also makes it very physically demanding.
“There have been a few changes to the track layout this year so it will be interesting to see the effects these have.”
