Massa wants Kimi support

ESPNstar.com - Friday 5th September 2008
Felipe Massa is expecting payback from Kimi Raikkonen should he be in a position to win this year's F1 title.
After helping Raikkonen clinch his maiden championship last season, Massa believes the Finn should reply in kind if a repeat performance is beyond him.
Heading into Sunday's Belgian Grand Prix, Massa trails leader Lewis Hamilton by six points, with Raikkonen 13 points behind the McLaren star with six races remaining.
As is customary in Formula One at this point in the year, questions are now being raised as to whether one team-mate will help another should push come to shove.
Raikkonen has indicated he will aid Massa's cause if necessary, even though he is far from out of the title picture just yet.
As far as the Brazilian is concerned, he is fully anticipating Raikkonen's assistance should there come a point when he cannot retain his crown.
Asked if he expected support should he be in a better position to win the championship, Massa replied: "If it is necessary, yes.
"I did it last year, and because of the job I did my team-mate was champion.
"If it is necessary, he should help. He is a very fair guy, as I am too. That is part of our job."
Ferrari bosses, though, have yet to set a deadline as to when one driver will have priority over the other.
"I've not spoken to anybody about it," added Massa.
"All I will say is I have always had great support inside the team from the first race, and until now it hasn't changed anything.
"We always need to do the maximum we can to win the race, or even to finish in the best condition for the championship. It doesn't change my mentality."
For now at least, there is every possibility the two will continue to trade off against each other, handing the advantage to Hamilton.
The 23-year-old has already made it clear he is playing the "long game", collecting points rather than going all out for victories as he did last season.
Regardless of Hamilton's incentives, Massa does not view the Briton any differently now compared to his debut season last year.
"He is a great driver," assessed Massa.
"He is very quick, has great ability, and I respect him like I am sure he respects me. He is also a nice guy. That is my opinion.
"This season, though, I think he has been even less consistent than he was last.
"But in F1 every race is a different experience, and sometimes you learn different things from each race.
"Sometimes things happen that make you believe or think a different way.
"Whatever happens we expect him to be a tough opponent. That is the way we approached last season when he was a rookie."
Massa is also refusing to discount a late surge from Raikkonen, who is on a miserable run of eight races without a win.
After his Ferrari suffered a blown engine in Valencia, Raikkonen's problems continued on Friday when he spun 33 minutes into the 90-minute second session.
The end result left the Finn depositing the rear wing of his car on the track, along with a considerable amount of water.
Unfortunately, just three minutes later it accounted for Giancarlo Fisichella in his Force India as he too spun into a barrier, and that culminated in the session being halted for 10 minutes.
To add to his woes, Raikkonen was also fined a total of 4,900 euros (US$8000) for two separate incidents where he exceeded the pit lane speed limit.
Dismissing suggestions Raikkonen is not on the ball this season in the wake of winning the world title, Massa said: "I don't think he is not motivated or not passionate about winning.
"You don't keep racing in F1, especially if you are a successful driver, just to race.
"You race because you want to win. It is part of the mentality from the good drivers.
"I have known Kimi now for two years, and for me he is the same guy I met at the first race. He hasn't changed."
Massa is clearly the man to beat at present after he was cruelly denied the win in Hungary when his own engine blew, and following his dominant triumph in Valencia.
The 27-year-old finished practice 0.339secs quicker than Raikkonen with a lap of one minute 47.284secs, with Hamilton almost 0.6secs down.