Felipe Massa - My Favourite Race
Ask any Formula One driver which race means the most to them, and the majority who've competed on home soil will talk about the unrivalled experience of racing in their home Grand Prix.
Hometown-hero hysteria for the likes of Villeneuve, Senna, Mansell, Schumacher and Alonso down the years has shown how some racers naturally invoke the flag-waving passions of their countrymen, with many drivers able to use a combination of fan fervour and ingrained local knowledge of the circuit to raise their performance levels in their home races.
It's a rule that rings true for several drivers in the current field, but perhaps none more so than Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa. The veteran racer has competed in 12 Brazilian Grands Prix since his debut in 2002, with three pole positions, two victories and three further podiums demonstrating the Sao Paulo native's affinity with his hometown circuit.
Although Massa's win at Interlagos in 2008 was one of the most emotionally charged races in recent memory, it's a bittersweet memory given the fact that even in victory Massa was unable to prevent Lewis Hamilton claiming the World Championship at the very last corner. Instead, Massa nominates his other win at Interlagos, his second victory in Formula One at the 2006 Brazilian GP, as his favourite race - but the specifics are very much a secondary consideration compared to the overall connection Massa feels with his home race.
"The race that means the most to me is my home Grand Prix," Massa told Crash.net last year. "It's something you can't really explain, but when you see your people in the grandstand supporting you then the feeling you have is amazing - and for whatever reason the result you give is better."
"When I won the first time there it was like a dream come true," Massa continues. "It was something I had dreamed of all my life. Even with the podium I scored for Williams in 2014 I felt the [emotion of the] crowd as if I had won the race. Sometimes you have a different feeling race by race, but it's always nice at home."
For Massa, the experience of racing at home comes with its own unique heritage and pressures though. As a son of Sao Paulo, Massa continues a lineage of hometown racers that includes Ayrton Senna and Rubens Barrichello, and Massa remembers the feeling of watching his heroes from the grandstands as a young fan.
"I went there many times to watch races with Nelson Piquet, Ayrton Senna and even Rubens [Barrichello] when I was still go-karting," Massa says. "To be part of the race, and winning the race, that's why it was a dream come true - because I remember being in the grandstand."
Growing up as a part of the raceday atmosphere meant Massa was well placed to understand the scrutiny placed upon Brazilian drivers around their home race, which is as intense as anywhere across the calendar.
"All through the week before you even go to the circuit the interest [from the press and sponsors] is amazing," Massa explains. "Then you get to the track and you start to have the feeling from the fans, the expectation. It's something that grows every day, every day you are on TV, every day they're talking about you - whether you're first or fifteenth in practice."
"The pressure of your home Grand Prix is a lot more. For whatever reason though it's an amazing pressure and it gives you more power. I managed to win two times in Brazil, almost three, and finish on the podium many times, so it was one of the best tracks in my career."
It's not just a question of positive energy though. For Massa, performance at Interlagos is as much about feeding off the pressure and fan fervour as it is about applying innate local knowledge of the circuit.
"I love the circuit, but it's also where I started. I know every little trick about the circuit," Massa says. "You learn things when you are still a kid, and I was 15 or 16 when I drove there for the first time. For whatever reason you learn things in a different way, and you understand things about the track - whether it's dry or wet, you always know where to go."
In 2006, Massa was able to apply that local knowledge to spectacular effect, taking a commanding pole position and victory on his first home race as a Ferrari driver. Having struggled on three previous home outings for Sauber, scoring only a solitary point in 2004, it was a different story once Massa had his hands on race-winning machinery.
The story of the weekend was the championship battle between Massa's team-mate Michael Schumacher, in what was thought to be his last race in Formula One, and Renault's Fernando Alonso, but Massa rose above the distractions to take a dominant victory.
"The race was perfect," Massa recalls. "I started from pole, opening the gap every lap, pulling away. I remember the second half of the race was more difficult because you are alone, but then you look to the grandstand and you carry on. You can't lose concentration at any point during the race because you're doing an amazing job. [On the last lap] you feel everything. You hear everything. You enjoy everything - it was the best moment of my life."
Massa had marked the weekend by sporting a pair of patriotic yellow and green Brazilian flag-inspired overalls, and he reveals that the race suit is one of two prized keepsakes that he's retained from the 2006 race. "I have a museum in my country house with everything there," Massa tells us. "I have the green and yellow overalls which I wore, [but] the first place trophy though is the most special one in your heart."
Despite 14 podium finishes in the intervening years, Massa hasn't stood atop the rostrum since that extraordinary day at Interlagos in 2008. Given his perennially strong home performance, what price the 35-year-old making an emotional return to the winners' circle at this year's Brazilian Grand Prix?
