The Mayor on Air Podcast wrote:Hinch: Hey, what's up ladies and gents, you're listening to the Mayor on Air podcast! I'm the Mayor of Hinchtown, James Hinchcliffe, and I'm joined by a very special guest here at the Texas Motor Speedway! He was new to the Airbnb IndyCar Series this year, at the ripe old age of 37...
Felipe Massa: I'm 38 now!
Hinch: But you were 37 when you did your first Indy race, yeah?
FM: Uh...oh yeah, I think so!
Hinch: Whatever, you're an old man! If you hadn't guessed, it's Felipe Massa! Thanks for joining me, Felipe!
FM: Hah, it's my pleasure James! Really good to be here.
Hinch: So let me ask you, of course you've done lots and lots of F1 in the past, and you decided to have a couple of years out - putting your feet up, probably on the Copacabana somewhere...what on earth made you think "yeah, I wanna do IndyCar"?
FM: It's kinda funny actually...so of course, I was enjoying not racing and just doing like, dad stuff, you know? And 2016, I watched the Indy 500 and something made me really want to do it - I had a deal in place, and then in 2017 Indycar just suddenly wasn't there...
Hinch: Oh yeah, dark times for us all...I had to share a sweaty prototype cockpit with Tony Kanaan...
FM: Hahaha, I've done that too! So yeah, for sure I had the...the desire to do the 500. When IndyCar came back, I spoke to Michael Andretti and we were doing this deal for Indy. But then he says that he cannot find a guy for the #26, and asked if I wanted to do the drive for the whole year...
Hinch: How'd your wife feel about that? Like, of course you've been doing the whole childcare thing, and suddenly you've got a way back into racing?
FM: Hah, she was okay about it being just Indy, but wasn't too happy when Michael asked me to do the year! We spoke and eventually she said "okay I support you", I think maybe the ovals are scary for her, but it's okay. But yeah, Michael tried to ask if Rubens Barrichello wanted to come back, but I think his wife was more firm than mine!
Hinch: So of course, you've had the whole oval tracks to get used to, the cars are different to what you're used to, but you've managed to do a really good job overall? What was on your mind when you first got in the current IndyCar?
FM: That I did a big mistake!
Hinch: Well, that's a great way to start...
FM: Haha, for sure! We went to do our first run at Phoenix, and running an oval is so strange for me at that time. We had Tony and Helio Castroneves helping out, telling me where to go and what to do, and after a few runs I felt more easy. It was good, they helped me a lot.
Hinch: Well, those two guys are complete pros, I'd love to have them on tap in testing! I mean, both of them have been racing ovals for so long I imagine that's all they think about at night...
FM: I don't wanna know what they think about at night! But yeah, for me, it was good to have them, although they started to argue about some setup ideas - Tony tried to get Helio to an...an arm-wrestle, but it didn't happen!
Hinch: I would not wanna be anywhere near TK in an arm-wrestle, lemme tell ya! He'd snap me in half...
FM: For sure, no!
Hinch: But has it surprised you that you've been the best Andretti driver this season? Like, in the points tables you're a bit ahead of Marco...
FM: Yes, but Marco's been not so good with luck, he drives well but he's not so lucky. And then the other cars, the guys are younger and newer than me, so I don't know! I think maybe our engine is a bit down on power compared to the rest, but Mazda are bringing better performance every time we race. So it's all okay, and even though I'm old I'm still learning a lot!
Hinch: So Michael's managed to teach an old dog new tricks?
FM: I'm not even THAT old, James! You sound like I'm an old man!
Hinch: That's true, that's true! *alarm bleeps*...okay, erm, that's kinda convenient, since we've got to go for a commercial break. Felipe, you have the honour of picking a song for us to play us out...what do you wanna go for?
FM: A song? Hmm...oh man there's so many!
Hinch: You didn't come prepared with one?
FM: I didn't even know I was gonna be doing this until you locked me in this room! But no, erm...let's Sergio Mendes, Mas Que Nada?
Hinch: Er, okay then! We're going for a break, and Felipe's playing us out with some Sergio Mendes! This is
Mas Que Nada...