Your guide to Abu Dhabi F 1 entertainment
Massa looking forward to his last race before retirement
Drivers like Felipe Massa can never retire from motorsport. As the hugely popular Brazilian driver of Williams braces up for one last race at the Yas Marina on Sunday, he said he will not be able to keep himself away from the need for speed — though retirement will give him time to try out other things in life.
“I don’t think so, I think I will do what I like to do. Yes, racing is a part of my life, of what I was doing as a kid. I will be racing but I will be finding time for other things as well. Will look for the new moment of my life. I would definitely find a place where I have been all this year — that is inside an F1 car but I’m sure I will find another car that I can enjoy and have fun,” he said at a meetand-greet session organised by the team management at the Mushrif Mall yesterday.
In the highly competitive sport of Formula One, one’s time on track is short as it is all about performance. Massa can hold his head high though as he has survived the cut-throat competition longer than many.
When the pictures of him being airlifted to a Budapest hospital in 2009 with a skull fracture was aired, few would have thought the Brazilian would carry on for another eight years. Massa, who will be making his 269th start at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix is only behind five drivers — Rubens Barrichello, Jenson Button, Michael Schumacher, Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen — who have competed in more Grand Prix than him.
“I had amazing moments to be really emotional in my career I would say. It is the first time I drove a Formula one car, the first podium, the first victory and then I think the moment that stands out is when I won the Brazilian Grand Prix 2006 and then to win it in 2008 was special as I was fighting for the Championship as well.
Made his mark
“I won three times in a row in Turkey — which is also a fantastic track. I had great moments with Williams as well. I finished second here in 2014 fighting for victory again. I’m very lucky to be in this type of profession and I did what I love to do and dreamt to do. Visiting countries and so many different people and racing in the best category in the world and against the best.”
With no world championship against his name, his 11 wins and 41 podium finishes may not be exceptional enough to put him among the greats the F1 has seen but the Brazilian has certainly made his mark.
The 36-year-old has weathered everything that F1 has thrown at him — the highs, lows and even survived near death crash. And as the twilight race gets under way at the Yas Marina, one can be rest assured that Massa will not be overawed by the hype surrounding his retirement.
He would definitely be focusing on the task at hand and will be looking to go into the sunset with a last hurrah.
“It is nice track here in Abu Dhabi and there are so many amazing things around the track as well. People are enjoying more and more every year.
I had some good results here and I’m really looking forward to finish with some good points. I had a good race in Brazil and really looking forward to finish with another good race here in Abu Dhabi.
“We will try and keep the fifth position in the construction championship, it’s where we are at the moment. We have some good points ahead of them and I would like to do well and enjoy, which means good finish as well,” he said.
The 36-year-old has weathered everything that F1 has thrown at him — the highs, lows and even survived near death crash.
he memorable sight of a distraught figure, eyes tightly closed, grimacing and slapping his forehead in anguish as he stares at his feedback and TV box is the only-too-frequent giveaway that a troubled Formula One team boss is about to count the mountainous cost of a crash of one of his cars.
The dazzling Formula One showcase, a treasure of bravery and dash and daring of drivers ravenously hungry for success in pedigree and priceless transport, has suddenly, in the revealing light of the image of the tormented boss on the pit wall, sunk to dark and dismal depths with a damaging hit on the victim team’s bank balance.
If, like the team hierarchy, you cast your eyes over the wreckage of the car being crane-hoisted from the barrier zone it has just smashed into over 100mph, you could be looking at a repair bill amounting to millions of dollars.
The driver, superbly and safely protected, may climb out of his disaster area without a scratch or the faintest blemish on his ability. Or it could have been his fault after a split second lack of concentration. Whatever, the consequent follow-up will be a torrential repair bill.
In F1 the cashflow washes like a financial flood over the already wealthy top teams, the champions, the winners, while at the back end of the grid the lesser likes are stranded high and dry and struggling. Angry, too, that they do not receive a fair enough share of the funding from the Grand Prix organisers.
The current dole out is all set to occupy the deeper consideration of the money men behind the F1 scenes as the also-rans pile on the pressure for bigger handouts to stave off the grave likelihood of a disappearance from the scene, as has happened to several teams over the last decade.
Cash dash
New owners Liberty Media forks out to the grid occupants around 66 per cent of its annual profits reckoned, last year, to be around $985 million (Dh3.6 billion).
I’m told the front-runners in the cash dash are Ferrari who receive $180 million a year. They are followed by consistent champions Mercedes with $171 million, Red Bull on $161 million and McLaren, once a team of legend but struggling flops for the past two years, on $97 million. Compare those mindboggling figures with the payout to humble back of the grid Haas, relative newcomers on the Grand Prix scene, with a miserly $19 million.
The money flows into F1 from hosting fees, worldwide film, media and TV rights and immense hospitality and trackside sponsorship arrangements with, its estimated for 2017, a turnover topping $1.83 billion with an underlying reserve of $1.38 billion. All teams are forced to pay an entry fee of $526,128.
Payments are made to the competing teams through nine monthly issues from April onwards — and they are judged on current performances, past successes and, as with Ferrari, special agreements that are traditional and top secret.
Now, back to that anguished team mastermind and the cornered signee of the repair bills to his damaged pride and joy. Here is a breakdown — as it were — of his imminent outlay for the smash up, often miraculously, all fixed in place as good as new overnight by his hard-working and tireless team behind the scenes.
An engine costs $8 million. The carbon fibre monocoque is $675.000 per chassis. A front wing and nose cone $170,000. Rear wing and overtaking aid $82,000. Fuel tank, plus assembly, $110,000. Hydraulics are $165,000, gearbox $490,000 and cooling system $160,000.
Oh, yes, and a steering wheel, the vitally essential highest-tech control handpiece with its complex array of buttons, readouts and dials, is pricier than the average family saloon at more than $50,000.
Little wonder if his car is a write off the team boss is in despair. He could be staring wondrously at a total cost of $950m.
In F1 the cashflow washes like a financial flood over the already wealthy top teams, while at the back end of the grid the lesser likes are stranded high and dry