'Team orders' controversy prompts Schumi, Massa private discussions

Felipe Massa denied yesterday that he was Ferrari's number two driver and said he was out to win in Hungary this weekend.

The Brazilian was at the centre of a row over so-called 'team orders' at last Sunday's German Grand Prix when he moved over to let team mate Fernando Alonso win after receiving a radio message while leading the race.

"Yes, I will fight for the victory here, whatever the conditions," Massa told a news conference on his return to the Hungaroring Formula One circuit where last year he suffered life-threatening head injuries.

Asked if he would therefore react differently if he found himself in the same position as last weekend, he replied: "I will win.

"The time I say that I am a number two driver, I will not race any more."

Massa said what had happened at Hockenheim made him even stronger as a person and he bristled at a suggestion from a Brazilian reporter that he had betrayed his country by obeying the orders.

"I will do everything I can always for my country," he said. "For me, my country is the most important thing. I have proved already many times in my life... what I am able to do for my country."

Massa said he had spoken to everyone within Ferrari about the situation post-Hockenheim.

"I want the best for the team," he said. "I am not here really just to race. I am here to win. That's really my point. As long as I am in the condition to win, we need to go to the end, to fight for the victory."

Compatriot Rubens Barrichello, sitting alongside, commiserated with Massa for what he had been through.

"I was very sorry to see that he had to go through such a bad thing," said the veteran, who endured regular team orders when he was seven-times champion Michael Schumacher's partner at the Italian team.

"Nobody should have to go through those feelings," added the Brazilian, who had to hand over a win at the infamous 2002 Austrian Grand Prix that led to team orders being banned by the governing body.

"Felipe is a friend and I wish he didn't go through that."

Barrichello said.

Meanwhile former Ferrari favourite Michael Schumacher has had a private word with Brazilian Felipe Massa about the 'team orders' furore.

Schumacher told reporters he had spoken to his close friend and former team mate after the Hockenheim race.

"He's experienced enough not to need advice from my side," the seven times Formula One champion said.

"I definitely had a little conversation with him but that's naturally of a private nature."

Schumacher and Massa were team mates at Ferrari in 2006, the German's last season before his comeback with Mercedes this year at the age of 41.

The two have remained close, with Schumacher saying last year that Massa was "like a brother to me" and that part of the reason why he retired, with Kimi Raikkonen already signed for 2007, was to save the Brazilian's job at Ferrari.

Agencies