• Ferrari news

Barrichello backs Massa to return to form

ESPNF1 Staff
April 4, 2012 « RB8 capable of title despite tricky opening races - Vettel | 'My season starts properly in China' - Grosjean »
Rubens Barrichello and Felipe Massa were friends during their time in F1 together © Sutton Images
Enlarge
Related Links

Rubens Barrichello believes Ferrari's Felipe Massa will return to form if he relaxes and enjoys Formula One rather than stressing about his recent results.

Massa has failed to score a point this season and has now gone 23 races without a podium while team-mate Fernando Alonso has scored 12 top-three finishes in the same period. But Barrichello, who is close to Massa, does not believe his fellow Brazilian has lost any of his ability.

"It's not a speed problem, it's something that he needs to solve within himself," he told Globo Esporte . "He has to close his eyes and enjoy, remembering that he does this because he likes it. Every time that I lost a little bit, it was because I had forgotten that I did it because I liked to. So we have to relax and improve that way. [For Massa] it is just a moment, and every moment and race in Formula One is a cycle of life."

Barrichello, who now races in IndyCar, laughed off the results of a recent fans' poll in the Italian media that showed he would be a popular choice as Massa's replacement at Ferrari.

"It was very unexpected," he said. "Maybe it was a way to see if Italians would pick an Italian driver, and suddenly I win. It is a very public business and shows that I must have left something behind."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
ESPN Staff Close