A relieved Felipe Massa says it was important to go well in his first race after returning from life-saving surgery.
Ferrari racer delighted with Bahrain return
Felipe Massa has admitted his relief after making a solid return to Formula One following life-saving surgery.
The Brazilian finished runner-up to Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso in Sunday's season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.
It was the 28-year-old's comeback race since requiring life-saving surgery following his accident in qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix last July.
The Brazilian revealed his delight to be back racing, especially after the injury raised question marks over his ability to compete again.
He said: "I had waited so many months for the first race, but I was excited rather than nervous about sitting on an F1 start grid for the first time since last year's German GP.
"I never had any doubt about my condition because everything I did felt exactly the same as it did before my accident.
Right direction
"When I was fitness training, it was all going in the right direction and all the activities I did in normal life were as before.
"All I had in mind was to do a good job for everyone, to get a good start for the season, not to do anything silly.
"It's always important to go well on the first race weekend, but in my case it was even more important, because if I had made a mistake some people would have immediately said, 'You see, he is not the same as before.'
"That would not have been nice because even if I had made a mistake, it was not going to be connected to my accident at all.
"As it turned out the first race weekend went very well for me and for the team. That was down to the fact we have a good car and the team did a perfect job over the weekend in Bahrain.
"It would be impossible to have a better start to a season than to take maximum points from the race, and that's exactly what Fernando and I managed in Bahrain."
Growing debate
Massa has also joined in the growing debate surrounding the soporific nature of the race at Sakhir, which has sparked suggestions an immediate rule change is required.
While the 28-year-old feels time is required to fully assess the issue, he concedes the ban on refuelling does have a downside.
"I have seen some criticism that maybe the tyre rules and lack of refuelling made the grand prix boring to watch for the spectators, but I think it is too early to comment after just one race," added Massa.
"However, it is true the situation at the start of the race is that we are six to seven seconds slower than in qualifying.
"Running on very low fuel to get a good grid position, you have a massive amount of grip, but then, on Sunday, you have a very heavy car with absolutely no grip in the early laps.
"Added to this, if you are following someone closely, trying to overtake, you lose more aerodynamic downforce, so these two factors combined mean it is even harder to overtake."
