Felipe Massa announces his retirement at the end of the season
One year later, Felipe Massa will once again have the opportunity to bid farewell to the Brazilian public as he has officially announced that he will leave F1 and Williams at the end of the season.
For several weeks, Felipe Massa had been more insistent about the Brazilian Grand Prix deadline to be fixed on his future. A week before the event, the driver took the initiative and announced that he would no longer be in F1 in 2018.
In his video broadcast on social media, he recalled that he had made the decision last year to retire and only returned when Williams was deprived of Valtteri Bottas’ services, who was leaving for Mercedes. Claire Williams, the team’s director, highlighted this decision: “We are particularly grateful to him for delaying his retirement from Formula One by a year after Valtteri joined Mercedes. This demonstrates the importance of the relationship we had built together. We recognize that it was not an easy decision for him to come back, after such an emotional farewell last year.”
Twelve months later, the former Ferrari driver will once again relive his last F1 race in front of his audience. The question remains whether Williams will again provide him with the car to compete in this event.
But above all, the question now arises of who will replace her within the Grove team. Over the past month, two test sessions were conducted with a 2014 car to evaluate Paul di Resta and Robert Kubica under the same conditions, the two leading candidates for making their return to F1.
However, other contenders have recently emerged as Daniil Kvyat has since left Toro Rosso and the Red Bull program. The support of Russian sponsors could therefore tip the balance. Similarly, Pascal Wehrlein could appear as a candidate thanks to the support of Mercedes, the team’s engine supplier. These last two candidates have the disadvantage of being under 25 years old, which could cause difficulties in relation to promotional sessions dedicated to the team’s title sponsor, Martini.
The workaround for the team could then be to hire a young driver but have a reserve driver who can take charge during these public appearances.
With the participation of www.racingbusiness.fr
