On the opening day of his final home Grand Prix before retirement, Felipe Massa enjoyed his Friday free practice sessions at the Autódromo José Carlos Pace, finishing higher up the leaderboard than he has been in recent races.
The Williams Martini Racing driver finished eighth fastest in the morning session in Brazil, before improving to fourth in the afternoon, just 0.028 seconds behind team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and Massa admitted it was nice to see his name so high up the running order after a difficult season.
Massa continues to love the Interlagos circuit and the passionate nature of the fans that come to support him, and hopes to be able to reward them with a good result this weekend.
“It’s definitely been a good day,” said Massa. “It’s always nice to see your name near the top of the leaderboard. I’m really looking for that competitiveness tomorrow and especially on Sunday.
“This is a track that I love and the people here really support me, which gives me so much more confidence. I hope we can stay up there this weekend. It won’t be easy but I will definitely try!”
