Fittipaldi - Massa's future depends on slump recovery

Felipe Massa

Brazilian legend Emerson Fittipaldi thinks the second half of 2013 will be crucial to countryman Felipe Massa's future.

Having emerged from his performance slump of 2012, Massa has more recently struggled with a string of crashes and spins that now threaten his place at Ferrari, where he only has a contract until the end of the season.

"I see Massa's future as depending on how well he will go in the second half of this year," Fittipaldi, a two-time world champion of the 70s, told Brazil's Totalrace.

"He's aggressive, he has talent and is very fast, but sometimes an athlete has phases where he cannot put it all together," he explained.

"But I'm sure he will come out of it."

Fittipaldi revealed that, in the midst of Massa's string of incidents, he managed to speak face-to-face with the 32-year-old Paulista.

"I spoke to him at Silverstone and told him that every athlete goes through difficult times in his career -- and this is not just in motor sport but in every sport.

"And, suddenly, everything comes back in your favour."

Massa's first chance to turn it around is this weekend in Hungary, the last race before the summer break and factory shutdowns.

"What I would like most of all," said the Ferrari driver, "is to turn things around, because going on holiday with a good result under my belt would really make the difference."

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