Felipe Massa has advised his fellow countryman, Rubens Barrichello, to retire from Formula 1 at this weekends Brazilian GP – his home race.
Barrichello, who currently drives for Williams, looks likely to lose his seat at the end of 2011 as speculation mounts that Kimi Raikkonen will replace him, but the 39-year-old says he is willing to seek sponsors to pay for him to remain in the sport, something Massa advises against.
“I did give him some advice, to quit,” Massa told TotalRace. “To me, Barrichello has had an incredible career in F1: the driver who competed in most GPs and with many wins under his belt. It is a career most drivers would dream to have.
“He raced for the best teams in F1. I haven’t advised him to quit because I feel he is old or something like that. But today in F1 there are 12 teams, and five or six are asking for money. I think this is absurd.
“My opinion, which I told him, is that I can’t see Barrichello searching for sponsors to race after all he has achieved in F1.
“I told him to quit and to use this last race to have a proper ending. But I know he will do what he thinks is the best for him and, as a friend, I will support him and hope for the best for him.”
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