Massa prepared for India with the F1 2011 game
It is common for drivers to use their team's simulator, or another team's in the case of smaller teams, to prepare for a race, especially when the circuit is new as it is for the Indian Grand Prix this weekend. However, some drivers also use video games for preparation, which is exactly what Felipe Massa did to familiarize himself with the Buddh International Circuit.
Felipe Massa will discover the circuit used for the Indian Grand Prix on Friday during the first practice session, just like all his rivals. However, the Brazilian driver has already had a taste of the track; he was able to get accustomed to it in the Scuderia Ferrari simulator and also thanks to the F1 2011 game, released at the end of September.
«To prepare for the Indian Grand Prix, I spent a day in the simulator to get a general impression of the track and I also used the latest version of the F1 2011 video game that includes the circuit, which allowed me to get some sensations and at least I know where the turns are,» Felipe Massa shared on his blog on the Ferrari website.
Massa confided that the Indian circuit seemed interesting and somewhat similar to Yeongam, where the last F1 race took place. However, he believes it will be much hotter in India and the fact that Pirelli has chosen to supply soft and hard compounds slightly worries the Brazilian because he has always had some difficulties with these two tire specifications since the beginning of the season.
The first impressions seem good because it is a pleasant circuit and it has many similarities with Yeongam, as there is a long straight and different types of corners, from very fast to very slow with a hairpin, and there are also changes of direction. However, the comparison with South Korea stops there because it should be much hotter this weekend, and also because we will be using Pirelli Soft and Hard tires, which are not the best for the 150° Italia. I hope we have made progress in this area and that we can achieve a good result, added the Ferrari driver.
