Sports psychology has never been high among Formula One priorities. It’s almost regarded as the public extension of a bloke actually admitting he’s a bad driver.

Even if an F1 star sought advice, a single-seat grand prix car – unlike a tennis court or golf range – hardly provides a platform for the viewing of technique from close quarters. Standing trackside restricts observation to a couple of seconds at one corner on the understanding that much of the client’s finesse is shrouded in the protective shell of a cockpit.

There is also reluctance – a refusal, almost – to accept that F1 drivers might need counselling. Bad luck and poor form affects racing drivers just as much as any sportsperson dealing with the mental pressures associated with their trade. For F1 drivers, entertaining such a notion is an admission of failure in keeping with the secretive doctrine of the insular world they inhabit.

That said, young racers could do worse than study the case of Felipe Massa. It’s neither the Brazilian’s 11 victories nor his being within a whisker of the 2008 World Championship they need to respect. Admirable as those statistics may be, it’s the fact that the 36-year-old is driving better than ever despite being reckoned by bookmakers to have a 500-1 chance of winning the next grand prix in Spain – or any of the remaining 15 races, come to that.

Massa is a classic example of going to the startline knowing he has nothing to lose, based on the premise that he considers himself lucky to be there at all. That is for reasons other than surviving a near-death experience in 2009 when put in a coma after being struck by an errant part flying off a car in front.

Massa spent the final race of 2016 bidding an emotional farewell. He didn’t want to go but circumstances were such that the Williams team felt the need to opt for financial backing attached to a younger driver rather than continuing to benefit from Massa’s experience. With the promising Valtteri Bottas remaining in the other Williams, Felipe found himself with the choice of either a backmarker team or early retirement.

He chose the latter – as did Nico Rosberg to the huge surprise of Mercedes, suddenly in urgent need of a replacement for the outgoing world champion. A deal was done with Williams to take Bottas (a move that paid off handsomely on Sunday with the Finn’s brilliantly executed first win in Russia), leaving Williams to be thankful they had not parted on bad terms with the man from Sao Paulo.

Happy to help out, Massa has cast aside all concerns about needing to prove himself and simply gone racing for the fun of it. He’s regularly qualified in the top eight. But for a puncture on Sunday, he would have finished ‘Best of the Rest’ (outside the fancied Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull teams) for the third time.

There’s a lesson there for drivers young and old. If they’d care to look.