Massa: “Formula E has nothing to be afraid of”

Felipe Massa believes that Formula E has “nothing to be afraid of” given the rapid growth of the series since its inception in 2014 and hopes that it will continue to change people’s opinions of electric vehicles over the coming years.

The Brazilian will make his all-electric debut with Venturi in Saudi Arabia this coming December, and is in Valencia this week for the official pre-season test where the first day saw him set the tenth fastest time of the day with a 1:18.176s.

Speaking after the chequered flag, Massa acknowledged the challenges facing him in Formula E but hopes to be able to learn and adapt to the demands of the car as quickly as possible in order to be best prepared for his debut event.

“Everything is a complete new challenge for me, learning the car and the tracks, but not this one as I know this track pretty well! But for sure I don’t know any of the tracks where I’m going to race from December,” said the Venturi driver. “The whole season will be a big challenge for me, to learn the tracks and how to drive this car in the right way, and with every session I’m learning new things.

“It’s a completely different car with different tyres, no downforce and low grip tracks, the car is sliding around a lot more than what I was used to in Formula 1. You have so many different things to understand but I like a challenge so I hope I can learn things in the right way as quick as I can.”

Massa believes the series itself has made massive steps forward since it began and foresees further progression in future seasons. He also praised the series for establishing itself as a worthy championship and hopes to compete for many years to come.

“I think the championship needed at least three years to understand how it’s going to be, but I always thought the idea was great from when they started.

“For sure they had a lot of issues to sort out in the first three years, and from the third to the fourth season they made a big step forward, and maybe from the fourth to the fifth they will make an even bigger step, so I think now Formula E has nothing to be afraid of.

“Formula E is a championship that is already established and it will stay for a very long time, and it is growing a lot more than the others, so this shows how strong the championship is now. I really hope it is a championship that I can enjoy and race in for many years.”

One of the appeals of Formula E is its policy of utilising street circuits for its calendar, which Massa believes is a great opportunity to explore new cities and to bring the racing to the fans, whose opinions he believes have changed because of Formula E and will continue to change with the progression of electric vehicle technology on the roads.

“The idea is quite nice, to see the amount of nice places that Formula E is racing in, beautiful countries and cities all around the tracks in the centres, and people are really enthusiastic about Formula E. I think maybe some countries maybe more than others, but with how much it’s growing it will become a lot more than it is now.

“There are still people who say ‘but there’s no engine, no noise’, but it’s the future. Even road cars in a few years will be electric with no noise, even Formula 1 has no noise compared to before, so in the end it is changing mentalities and it will keep improving year by year.”