Felipe Massa will not want to stay in F1 at any cost
If Williams does not extend his contract at the end of the 2016 season, one of the veterans on the grid has set his conditions to stay in Formula 1: to have a competitive car and a team where he feels appreciated.
The short-term future of Felipe Massa is secure: the Brazilian has recently been extended at Williams and will thus drive for the Grove team in 2016.
Yet in 2017, Felipe Massa will be 36 years old, and the question of his departure from Formula 1 could arise. The former Ferrari driver himself admits to being still uncertain: “Next year will be the last year of my contract, so it will be an important season to understand if I continue or not,” he stated for the Brazilian website UOL.
If Williams does not keep him for another season, Felipe Massa warns already: he will not want to stay in the F1 paddock at any cost. “If I have an opportunity to continue with a competitive team, I will do it. Otherwise, I will stop. I will stay in F1 if I have a team like Williams where I am happy and where the team is happy with me.”
What would a retired Felipe Massa do? Would he return to his country? « I don’t know if I’ll return to Brazil or if I’ll continue living in Monaco. I also love Miami, so maybe I’d like to live there. But I won’t race in Nascar because those guys are on the track every weekend and my family would kill me! ».
The Paulista took his first start in Formula 1 at the Australian Grand Prix in 2002. In Malaysia, for his second race, he even managed to score points with his Sauber-Petronas.
