Sao Paolo, 23 November – Sometimes, it doesn’t take much to make people happy, just a gesture, a smile or spending a bit of time is enough for people going through difficult times. This morning, Felipe Massa did just that, after undertaking another sponsor appearance, as he went to a children’s hospital – Hospital das Clinicas di San Paolo, a cutting edge facility, which specialises in treating rare diseases and tumours. Felipe was welcomed by a group of Professors, Magda Maria Sales Carneiro Sampaio, Uenis Tannuri and Vicente Odone, who took him on a tour of part of the Institute.

“It was a moving experience for me,” said Felipe, as he bid farewell to his hosts. “Seeing how these children deal with their suffering is yet another reminder of what life is really about. All of us who work in Formula 1 need to remain aware of how lucky we are…I wish to congratulate all the doctors who work here, because their commitment is extraordinary.”

“We are the ones to thank Felipe for the time he spared us,” replied Professor Odone. “It is moments like these that bring joy to our little patients and the family members who help them and it is important that they can come into contact with people who represent life outside the hospital. For us, it was an honour to have Felipe here as our guest and we thank him and Ferrari, who already a few years back visited this facility.”

The Children’s Institute was established in 1976, bringing together the specialist paediatric departments of the Clinicas della Facolta di Medicina dell’Unversita di San Paolo hospital and covers an area of over 25,000 square metres, providing 213 beds. The use of the latest technology and highly qualified professionals allows for very complex procedures to be carried out, such as the separation of Siamese twins and liver, kidney and bone marrow transplants. In addition the Oncology-Haematology Service offers the very latest treatments for infantile tumours. Further information can be found at www.icr.usp.br.

Cotia, 22 November – The week of the Brazilian Grand Prix is always packed with appointments for Felipe Massa, be they TV appearances, sponsor events or meetings with the team. But today Felipe wanted to do something different and, thanks to support from the Santander Bank, he organised a kart race with unusual opponents. These were very different from the fellow drivers with whom he ends the season at his ‘International Challenge of the Stars’ – the event that Felipe himself created and which will also take place this year at the circuit of Florianopolis on December 3-4.

At the Granja Viana kart circuit, the stage for the 500-mile race of the same name on the outskirts of Sao Paulo, it was the representatives of the Brazilian media who took to the track. This was their chance to compare themselves with the Ferrari driver in equal equipment – and vice versa. Everyone was at the wheel of the same type of kart, with the extra advantage of having the pole man – Felipe, naturally – put to the back of the grid. The race took place first on a dry track and then in the rain (an early taster of what we will see on Sunday in Interlagos? The weather forecast is certainly far from encouraging for the weekend). Its outcome was taken for granted because Felipe quickly gained back the 25 positions that he had ahead of him at the start, ending up winning by a gap of 36 seconds. But the battle between the journalists was intense: Lucas came out the winner in the end after he breezed past Rafael Munhoz to take the chequered flag by little more than half a second, while Grunwald took the third spot on the podium. “It was very enjoyable to race against the press,” smiled Felipe at the end of the race. “They were different opposition to normal and I’m sure they will have had the chance to understand how difficult it is to be at the steering wheel on a track when it suddenly starts raining!”

The Granja Viana race was the first chance for the local media to speak to Felipe heading into his home race, the final date of an exacting season for the Ferrari driver, which has not gone without criticism. “After such a difficult year there could be nothing better than to race at Interlagos,” said Felipe. “It will be great to race with the support of the crowd on the track where I started racing and where I’ve always given my best. I’ve won twice at Interlagos and I’ve started from pole position three times: here there’s an extra motive to find the force that I’m looking for. I’m hugely determined to get my best result of the season to end it in the best way possible.”

The target is that podium placing that has eluded him since the Korean Grand Prix of last year. In 2011 Felipe’s best result is the fifth place that he has taken five times, the last of which was 10 days ago at Abu Dhabi’s Yas Marina. “There have been races where I could have made the podium but circumstances always conspired to prevent it. But that’s how the season has gone and I have to accept it. Now I’m totally focused on doing the best possible job in 2012. The team is also doing the same because it will be essential to have a competitive car from the beginning of the year and I’m part of this preparatory work.”

Felipe didn’t hide from the importance of next year for his career. “I well know that next year is crucial for me. I will have to do better and return to normality, which means getting back to winning and fighting for the championship,” explained the 2008 world title runner-up. “I’ve always believed in my work and my potential. I know that things will change and all this will happen.”

A team’s preview of a Formula 1 race usually focuses on all aspects of what can be expected over the coming weekend, but there is a good reason why our look at the nineteenth and final round of the 2011 season should have a rather more specific introduction. The Brazilian Grand Prix will be especially significant for Scuderia Ferrari driver Felipe Massa and not just because of the obvious correlation that it is his home race. When he makes the short trip from home to the Interlagos circuit on the outskirts of Sao Paolo this weekend, he will be preparing to tackle his 153rd Grand Prix and more significantly his “century” of race starts in the red race suit of the Prancing Horse. “This will be a very important weekend for me, as it will also mark the end of the tenth year since I first raced in Formula 1, although not ten years of competition, as I was a Ferrari test driver in 2003,” says the Paulista. “Fortunately, I am still young and there is more to come, but ten years is still a landmark in an F1 driver’s career. Then there are my six years racing for the Scuderia, competing in one hundred Grands Prix for the team, which makes me one of the drivers who has raced the most for this team. Therefore, putting it all together, ten years of Formula 1, one hundred races with Ferrari and all of it at home in Brazil, makes this something really special for me. It will be an emotional time and what I would like to add to it all would be a good result come Sunday afternoon.”

Good results, or indeed the best result, is something Ferrari has achieved ten times out of 48 participations in the Brazilian Grand Prix, with wins at both the current venue of Interlagos and at Rio de Janeiro’s Jacarepagua circuit which last held the race in 1989. Massa was the author of two of those victories. “They were both incredible,” recalls Felipe. “Even the one in 2008 when I won and came so very close to winning the Drivers’ title in Brazil. And my first win at home was the realisation of a dream, because for a Brazilian to win at home is almost like winning the world championship, so for those reasons the 2006 victory at Interlagos was the best of those two.” Although Felipe’s team-mate Fernando Alonso has never won here, the Spaniard has been a frequent visitor to the podium with two second places in 2006 and ’08 and two thirds in ’07 and last year.

Following on from Korea, India and Abu Dhabi, coming to Interlagos is like stepping back in time, from the very newest venues on the Formula 1 calendar to a paddock that has changed little in the past two decades. However, the key ingredients for a great racing weekend are all there: a fantastic track, an enthusiastic, noisy and knowledgeable crowd and three local drivers on the grid – apart from Felipe, Bruno Senna and Rubens Barrichello will also be carrying the hopes of those making so much noise in the grandstands. At 4.3 kilometres in length, it’s a relatively short lap, which is why it requires 71 of them to add up to a Grand Prix distance. However, it packs a lot into its short distance, with plenty of gradient changes and sudden dips that push the driver into the floor of the car while the lateral forces on him are also high, not forgetting the fact the track runs in the less common anticlockwise direction. The bumpy surface used to be a problem for both driver and car, but regular resurfacing means this is no longer such an issue. Pirelli is supplying its Soft and Medium tyres just as it did in Abu Dhabi and it’s probable they will have to work harder to deal with Interlagos than they did at Yas Marina. Of course, in Sao Paolo at this time of year, the rain tyres need to be ready to go at a moment’s notice as the rain can arrive both unexpectedly and ferociously. The Scuderia Ferrari 150º Italia cars that Felipe and Fernando Alonso will drive out on track on Friday are in the same trim as seen in Abu Dhabi and, for the final time in 2011, the three hours of free practice on the first day of track action will provide a last chance to evaluate some components recently introduced and set-up solutions that could find their way onto the 2012 car. For the rest of the weekend, it will be a case of trying to secure the best grid positions and race results possible to end a challenging season in the best way possible. Our “century man” Massa sums it up succinctly: “This year has not gone so well, but we have tackled it with our usual fighting spirit and that is what we will take forward to next year, when we hope to have a very different sort of championship to this one just ending. The intention is to be competitive right from the start, fighting for the win in every race. This has not been a fantastic season for me, but neither has it been for the team. So as a driver, I have a very strong desire which I share with the whole team to give one hundred percent to improve for next year.”