The 27-year-old starts the campaign in Australia next week in his quest for becoming his country’s first F1 world champion since the late Ayrton Senna in 1991.

Massa won more races than Lewis Hamilton in 2008 but missed out by a single point after a cliff-hanger final race in Brazil.

But as the driver said in a recent interview, he is reconciled to what happened last year. “In a strange way, it was a positive thing for my personal life,” he told The Guardian. “You learn a lot in this kind of situation. Sometimes in a different way, I think it could have been too much — to win the title at the very end in Brazil. I believe if you deserve something, one day you will get it.”

‘Changes for good’

HANDING the Formula One title to the driver with most wins will get drivers racing this season, thinks the sport’s commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone. F1’s governing body made the change with points acting as a tie-break at the top and still deciding positions from second downwards and the constructors’ championship.