Rio de Janeiro, Sep 25 (Xinhua) Brazil’s Formula One driver Felipe Massa scoffed at rumours that he will leave the Ferrari team in 2008.
“This story of me going to Toyota next year does not exist,” he told the Brazilian press Tuesday, before leaving for Japan, where the next F1 Grand Prix will take place Sunday.
Massa said his contract with the Italian team, signed in 2006, is valid up to the end of the 2008 season and stressed he is already negotiating his stay with Ferrari well beyond 2009.
According to the rumours in European media Monday, the Brazilian driver would move to Japanese team Toyota next year, leaving room for Spanish champion Fernando Alonso to move over to Ferrari from arch rivals MacLaren.
Alonso has recently been spotted in confrontations with MacLaren, especially following the investigations that led FIA to fine the team for spying on Ferrari.
The driver allegedly threatened to reveal contents of e-mails related to the case in order to get a better treatment from the team than the one offered to Briton Lewis Hamilton, the current drivers’ championship leader, kicking off a crisis within MacLaren.