Felipe Massa has ruled out a move to Formula E next year, even if he doesn’t race in Formula 1, saying that he needs to find the right team in either championship to continue racing.

Rumours about Massa’s future have circulated ever since his return to Williams for 2017 following his planned retirement at the end of last season, gaining a reprieve after Valtteri Bottas’ move to Mercedes.

Massa was angling for a move into Formula E before returning to F1, testing with Jaguar, but the Brazilian does not want to rush a transfer.

With the next Formula E season starting one week after the end of the F1 campaign in Abu Dhabi, it would be a tight turnaround and one that Massa didn’t think he would be ready for, having previously described the Formula E driving experience as “completely different” when he tested the Jaguar I-Type in Italy earlier this year.

“I don’t think I will be ready to start the season or even do it in my Formula 1 championship,” Massa said when asked about a possible Formula E move for season four by Crash.net.

“I think also even if I don’t race in F1 next year, I will not race in Formula E next year.

“I don’t want to do things just to race. I want to do things in a proper way.”

Massa stressed on Thursday he wanted Williams to prove it was keen to keep him as part of its F1 team for 2018 if he were to extend his contract, and added he would want a similar level of commitment from any Formula E programme.

“I want to have everything I want in the way that I believe is correct for me,” Massa said.

“If I go to Formula E, I want to find the right team for me to go to.”