F1’s ‘grandmother’ era ended: Massa

London : Felipe Massa says Formula 1 ended its era of “grandmother” driving with its 2017 cars, which he likened to the 2006-08 V8-powered machines in which he was most successful.Massa won 11 grands prix for Ferrari between 2006-8, but ended his 16-year spell in F1 with Williams in 2017.

The Brazilian said this year’s cars restored a challenge he felt had been the missing before the aerodynamic rule changes and move to more durable tyres.

“Definitely I will remember that it [the 2017 car] is nice to drive,” Massa said.

“When you’re just driving the car it is quite a nice feeling for the driver in terms of the G-force and the physicality. “I think to do a perfect lap in these cars you need to be a proper driver, not like in the past where the tyres were going away or you needed to drive like a grandmother. Now you need to drive like a driver.

“It’s similar to maybe 2006, ‘07 and ‘08 or even before that time.

“You have the car ready to accept everything so the driver really needs to risk and drive in a proper, aggressive direction.”

Making his debut with Sauber in 2002, Massa raced in both the V10 and the V8 eras before the current V6 turbo-hybrid era began in 2014.