Former Scuderia Ferrari driver Felipe Massa had the chance to partner three Formula One world champions during his time alongside the Maranello team but pointed out that Fernando Alonso was “for sure” the most difficult to work with.
The Brazilian joined the Italian side in 2006 and drove alongside seven-time F1 world champion Michael Schumacher for one year, before Kimi Raikkonen signed for Scuderia Ferrari to replace the retiring German.
Following Kimi Raikkonen‘s departure, it was Fernando Alonso who moved to Ferrari as the team-mate of Felipe Massa for the next four seasons, after which Felipe left Ferrari and moved to Williams.
That period alongside the Spanish driver was, according to Felipe Massa, four years of watching the Maranello team “splitting in the middle”. In an interview for Polish publication swiatwyscigow.pl, the former Ferrari driver was asked if Fernando Alonso had been his ‘most difficult team-mate’.
He answered: “Yeah, yeah, for sure.” Asked to provide some more details on this topic, the Brazilian continued: “First of all, he was an amazing driver, there’s nothing more you can say there. But,” he added, “it was quite difficult to work together inside the team. Actually, the team was splitting in the middle. And in the end, it was not good for the result of the team. And also, for me, I didn’t feel strong enough to work, to make the team listen to me. That was quite hard. But anyway, it was also some learning around as well.” – he explained.
Fernando Alonso was able to finish ahead of Felipe Massa in all the four championships during their time in Maranello, with the Spanish driver bagging three runner-up results in the F1 world championship, each time finishing behind Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel.
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The Spaniard was the second double World Champion that Felipe Massa had worked with, as the Brazilian spent his maiden year with Scuderia Ferrari learning from seven-time World Champion Michael Schumacher. That season was “great” – the Brazilian admitted – “It was a great experience. It was a great time to be able to be team-mates with Michael Schumacher. I learned a lot from him. He was an amazing driver. The way he was working… We were very close as well. In the end I was lucky to be part of that experience.” – Felipe Massa concluded.
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