Williams contacted Massa in December, just after he had been at the factory for the team's Christmas party.

The Brazilian did not take much persuasion, as it became clear that he had stopped primarily because he knew that a top drive would not be available, and not because he had had enough of the sport.

"Bless him, Felipe had announced his retirement, we had a whole fanfare around it, and then to have to phone your ex-driver up and say 'would you mind coming out of retirement?', you feel quite bad about it," Williams told Sky Sports News.

"But I've never heard anyone so happy and excited, so it was a big relief for us."

She is confident that Massa can still do a good job for the team, and insists his motivation is still intact.

"We are never going to put a driver in the car who we don't believe can deliver. As everyone saw even in his last race last year, he delivered for this team.

"He has lost none of his motivation. I know there's a lot of talk out there, 'Let the guy retire, leave him alone.' He wants to come back.

"Little known to me, I didn't actually realise that he didn't really want to retire, and so I think Felipe is going to do a good job this year."

Williams made the interesting observation that this 'bonus' season will mean that Massa is not under pressure, implying that he has already accepted that he will stop for good at the end of his new one-year deal.

"He's got a year to just have some fun and sometimes when that's the case the pressure is off. He can just go out there and deliver, without worrying about anything else.

"So I'm looking forward to seeing what he could do, and having that pairing with Lance I hope is going to work really well for us."