Felipe Massa has talked up the chances of a rival series being started in the wake of the FIA’s latest attack on FOTA.
Yesterday the sport’s governing body issued a lengthy statement in which it accused FOTA of being inconsistent, obstructing progress and trying to take control over the sport. Ferrari’s president Luca di Montezemolo came in for particular criticism in the statement, which accused him of failing to secure promises of commitment to the sport from the manufacturers and of rebuffing the FIA’s attempts to discuss cost cuts.
Star driver Massa leapt to his boss’ defence, speaking out about the possibility of a new manfuacturers’ championship.
“The situation looks bad at the moment…we need to look seriously at what is the best option: as the teams appear to be united, then maybe it is time to look at doing something different that could be better for the sport,” the Brazilian said to Ferrari’s official website.
“Whatever happens on the race track this weekend, the current political situation in the sport is bound to be making the headlines again,” he said.
“When I am driving the car, I never think about it and simply concentrate on my job of driving as quickly as possible, but outside the cockpit, I think about these problems, as they do affect me, as the relate to my future and the future of Formula 1,” he continued.
Massa went on to criticise the extent to which the conflict has gone, saying that the sport did not need that.
“We are all very concerned about the situation and I follow the developments closely, as it affects my professional life, even if I can have no real influence over how the situation evolves: that’s down to the people who govern the sport and those in charge of the teams.
“We need our sport to be in better shape, because over the past few months there have been some very stupid fights. Everyone needs to work hard to make the sport what it should be for the fans, the teams, the sponsors and the drivers. We don’t need this fighting.”
