Massa goes fastest on Day 1 at Indian GP

By Jay
October 28 2011

Felipe Massa clocked the fastest time on Day 1 at the maiden Indian GP second free practice session here at Noida, India. Fernando Alonso was third on the timesheet.

“I think the car was good, I think the car was competitive. We’ll see tomorrow how Red Bull and McLaren was running in terms of fuel and everything. But I think the car was good, and I did good laps as well. I think when the car is good and you do good laps, you can be on the top."

He also praised the Noida track, though it was dusty in the first session. “It was very dirty. Offline it was very difficult, because there’s a lot of sand outside the line, but it’s a nice track.”

He said that he especially liked the wide entries to the slower corners.

“It’s different, the ideas, in terms of the slow corners – Turn 3, Turn 4, and the last corner. It’s a very wide entry," the Brazilian said. "This, for sure, creates different directions for the race, and even for qualifying – I mean, for qualifying everybody tries to find the quickest line to cut the corner in the best direction, to gain speed in the total corner.

“In the race it’s different. If you are in the front , if you take the right line to the corner, the other car can pass you on braking. He just dives inside and can put the car on your side, because it’s so wide. So you need to turn a little bit before and brake more in the middle of the corner. The other car behind can go wide and take a very good exit. For sure, it’s a big idea and a good idea for overtaking. 

“It can make the race very challenging as well, for the drivers. And also the track is very nice. It has some uphills, some downhills, some very high-speed corners, so I really enjoy it.”

Ferrari would hopefully look forward to better their rivals, especially Mclaren, with whom their fight is up for second place in the Constructor's Championship, while Fernando Alonso is fighting for second place in the Driver's Championship.