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Vanessa: "Before we start, can you introduce yourself?"
Massimo: "My name is Massimo Perrina. I'm a racing driver from Washington, DC, in the United States. Last year, 2024, I was driving full-time in the Ferrari Challenge Series in North America and became a series champion."
Haz: "How'd you get into racing? Were you always passionate about it?"
Massimo: "I was always passionate about racing in general. I got in a little bit later than a lot of people do, especially when you take guys in Formula One who get into a go-kart when they're four, five, six years old. It's crazy how young they get in. The first time I stepped into a go-kart was when I was twelve or thirteen years old. And exactly how it happened was, my family was always into racing in general, especially Formula One and other series as well, like IMSA, GT World Challenge, and WEC.
One day, since we had a go-kart track not too far away from our house, my dad and I decided, 'Why don't we go do this?' So we end up going up there. We do a day of rental karting, but we also figured out that they had professional karting. We ended up getting a couple of our own and doing the series locally. It turns out we loved it and were actually pretty good at it, and that's how it started."
Haz: "That's nice. So you're racing right now, but what are your goals and plans for the future?"
Massimo: "So I like to develop a five- and ten-year plan just to have a vision or an overall goal. My current five-year plan is to end up as a permanent fixture on an IMSA team. GTP is the highest level of IMSA, but I'm more so aiming toward the GT route, which is the racing version of road cars you're all familiar with, like McLaren and Mercedes. They're just hotted up with a lot of aero and are just as fast. Ideally, within about five years, I’ll be on an IMSA team, preferably on a GT team, but I'm not picky."
Cecil: "Could you imagine yourself being here right now?"
Massimo: "Oh, never. I never once imagined that I would be exactly where I'm at. When I first stepped into a go-kart, I never imagined it taking off this far. Am I very happy it did? Of course. I wouldn't regret it for the world. This is exactly what I love, what I'm very passionate about. And I just want to try and keep pushing it along as far as I can until the wheels fall off the wagon, so to speak."
Haz: "You talked about your goals, but if you could drive in any championship, which one would it be?"
Massimo: "That's a difficult choice. There are so many different championships. Right now, my current ideal series would either be IMSA, like I was saying, or WEC, which is the World Endurance Championship. It's a worldwide series, but primarily their focus is over in Europe, and that's the host of the series that has the 24 Hours of Le Mans."
Nicole: "If you were to choose any circuit to race on, what would your dream circuit be?"
Massimo:"I've got many answers for this. Here on the stateside, I really want to drive to Daytona. Daytona is a combo road circuit and an oval, which is what you're used to seeing in American racing like NASCAR. So they combine the two, where it's a really high-speed oval and the technicalities of a road circuit. Not to mention, they race it at all hours of the day without any lights, and it's just amazing.
I'm getting a chance to go to Daytona in about two weeks, and it's like a dream track for me. But in other parts of the world, I would have to say just the prestige and the history that comes with racing at Spa makes it probably my top choice. It's such a beautiful track, and having raced it on the simulator, it's so much fun. I really have no other way to put it."
Nicole: When you find yourself racing away from home, how does it feel?
Massimo: It's always difficult because it's a new area, new time zone, new track. It's very rare I find myself in a familiar situation when I'm on the road at a race. But the nice thing is that family is never too far behind. My parents are at every single race; they always, always make their biggest effort. My dad's always there because he loves watching racing. My mom sometimes is not able to be there, but I always have someone there to support me, watch me, root for me, which makes it a lot easier.
Cecil: That's amazing. Are there other challenges other than WEC and the challenges you're in that you'd like to do?
Massimo: For now, not really. A lot of people ask me, of course. When they figure out I'm a racing driver, they go, "Oh, do you want to do F1?" And of course, I would love to do F1, but I'm sure you guys are very aware, if you're not in a formula car at any age of thirteen, like starting in Formula 4, you're behind the curve. Max Verstappen and the likes of today's young drivers were in an open-wheel car so young that it really means I'm never going to have a chance there. Would I love to drive in F1? For sure. It's the top category of any motorsport. But unfortunately, it's just not realistic. For other series right now, no. I think I'm very dead set on IMSA and WEC.
Nicole: Is there a specific race moment in 2024 that stands out to you as particularly memorable?
Massimo: Yeah, I definitely have one that stands out for good reasons and bad reasons as well: 2024 Sonoma, California, Race Two. The Sonoma race weekend was pretty memorable in general. I started out the weekend in testing; I've never driven on Sonoma and immediately found some pace, which was nice. But there was a driver who was there for a one-off race, a young, fast kid who has been driving formula cars, and he was awesome competition. Really good. We were always bouncing back and forth on the timesheet at the top, which made it super competitive, which naturally, I'm hyper-competitive, so it was very fun.
But then race day comes. The way the challenge is formatted is there are two races per weekend. You qualify in the morning and race in the afternoon on both Saturday and Sunday. Saturday comes and goes; I take pole on the race win. Sunday comes, and qualifying is the tightest it's ever been. I set my lap, and I know it wasn't perfect, but I'm cooling down on a cool-down lap, and I'm on the radio with my engineer saying, "Keep me up to date. What's he doing? What's he doing in times?" Then he bests me by about two and a half tenths, and they go, "Do another one. You got time. Go for it."
I rev up for another lap, and I'm absolutely pushing. At this point, my best lap was the best I'd ever set the entire weekend. I know there's a little bit more in it, but I'd have to really eke out absolutely everything. So I give it absolutely 101%, flying around the circuit. I'm sure I can find the qualifying lap somewhere. It wasn't a perfect lap still, but it was about as good as I could do with the tire condition already. I end up sneaking up the pole by about five hundredths of a second, which was just awesome to be in with.
And then we go into the race. We roll up to the start, me and this other guy side by side. Because our series does rolling starts, we don't do standing starts. He jumps it. He jumps the start because, as the pole sitter, I control the pace, but he completely jumps it. He got me out by a car. Then, going into what is known as Turn 2, which is the first proper corner, I get absolutely pit maneuvered from behind. It's a bit of a tricky incident. I even got penalized for it, which I couldn't believe, but that doesn't matter. I get pit maneuvered; we both go off into the dirt.
At this point, I'm close, but it makes no difference—all the way to the back of the field. I'm pissed off. I've got dirt on my tires and the car, and I'm just like, "God, there goes the race." This guy at the front is running away, and I'm just here playing with guys that just aren't as fast. So I'm just passing them as quickly as I can. It's a thirty-minute race, so I only got thirty minutes to make this happen, and I'm absolutely flying—or trying to at least—especially with damage on the car, which is difficult to drive.
I end up falling all the way back to P14 overall. I end up climbing up to P3 at one point and was fighting for P2, then I made a really bad mistake which threw me back down to P4, and I ended up finishing P4. So it was a great race—very memorable for all the wrong reasons. But I very much enjoyed that level of challenge. I think it's those moments that make racing as interesting as it is.
Cecil: If you could talk to one driver from any division of motorsport, who would it be?
Massimo: That's a tough call. Of course, there are so many great Formula One drivers, but personally, I'm trying to think of a driver who has a lot of value when it comes to advice. Someone who's gone my route and wants to progress. There’s a driver named Nicholas Nilson. He’s a Ferrari factory driver for the GTP team—really, really fast. He started exactly like me in a challengers series all the way to the top level of motorsport as a factory driver in their prototype category, which is nothing short of impressive. I think I’d talk to him, understand his background, his exact path, and get any recommendations. I’d take it from there.
Vanessa: Who was your biggest inspiration while growing up?
Massimo: Definitely Michael Schumacher—his driving style, his attitude, his behaviors on and off the track. I just love the way he holds himself and his team in such high regard. I definitely look up to him all the time. I quite frequently watch the Schumacher documentary on Netflix again and again, just because it’s that good.
Nicole: How do you mentally and physically prepare for race days? And how do you handle the pressure during competition?
Massimo: Preparation for any race begins well before the race weekend. The second I know I’m going to be racing, the physical aspect starts right then and there. I remember coming into the season—which I figured out I’d be racing—I was not in shape at all. I was thirty pounds overweight, had no endurance, and wasn’t well-built to handle the heat inside the car. In a closed-cockpit car, it gets so hot—about 130°F (54°C). I wasn’t all the way there, so starting in January (albeit a little late, since the series always starts in March or April), I changed my diet and training schedule.
I hit the gym about five days a week, lifting weights, doing cardio, and always finishing with a sauna session. The sauna is great for overall health and heat endurance training, which is crucial in the car. If you lose focus due to the heat and all the sweating, you’ve already lost the race—you can’t maintain focus for the rest of it.
For mental preparation, the simulator is my biggest tool. I spend 15–25 hours practicing one track on the sim before a race weekend. Every free hour at home, I’m on the simulator, turning laps. The similarity to real life is incredible. While you can’t perfectly map out turn-ins or braking markers because of differences in track conditions, it’s an invaluable tool for learning the track and its nuances before arriving.
On race day, I mentally prepare by watching a lot of film. We have cameras in the car that record data and video. I spend any free time reviewing that footage to ensure I’m in the best position possible. About thirty minutes before the race, I shut down and zone in. I review any key sections of the track where I need improvement and then plug in my headphones to listen to some music just before getting in the car.
Vanessa: What are your goals for the 2025 season?
Massimo: Currently, my goal is just to get in the car because, right now, I'm having issues getting the proper funding to be able to go racing for the 2025 season. Of course, every driver you talk to will have the same issues—it’s such a hot-button topic. The ability to secure the level of funding you need is so, so difficult. It’s already January, and a lot of series are already taking off. I have a couple of Hail Marys I’m hoping for to get myself in the seat of a car, but currently, my focus is not on the 2025 season but on the 2026 season because I just don't have the capacity or ability to pull together such an amount of money at this time. But we’ll see.
Haz: What lessons have you learned in the Ferrari Challenge?
Massimo: I would say just discipline in general. Like I was saying before, when it came to the mental and physical preparations for the race, I wasn’t very disciplined. In general, when it came to school, I would just screw off and do work whenever. When it came to my body and physical health, it was, “Eh, I’ll deal with it later.”
But I think racing really taught me discipline, especially when it came to things I love and am very passionate about. It was very easy to have some sort of resolve and put my mind into something like that. Besides that, I think I learned a lot about myself as a driver as well—my capabilities, my level of speed, so to speak. I definitely still have a lot to learn, but I developed a lot as a driver this past season. I see that in my behaviors every time I jump on the simulator, and even on the road, I know these new tendencies or new behaviors.
Vanessa: Last question if you had one message for young karters, what would it be?
Massimo: Obviously, the corniest one and the most obvious one is don’t stop—don’t stop trying. But a real, genuine piece of advice is this: if any young karters want to start racing cars, whether it's GT cars like I do or formula cars, it’s to have a plan.
A lot of karters I knew growing up were amazing drivers—they were way faster than me. I still think that if they were in the same car as me, they’d have the opportunity to just absolutely kick my ass any time, any day of the week. But a lot of them didn’t have a plan. So they were in karts, they were doing amazing… now what?
Okay, are we going to a racing school? Are we going to get licensed? Are we planning on doing Formula 4? What’s the plan? And no one really made it out of karting, which is the hardest thing to do if they don’t develop a plan. If they don’t talk to sponsors, they’re never going to see anything outside of the go-kart. There’s nothing wrong with never getting out of the go-karts, but if that’s your goal, you need to start developing a plan.
It starts at a young age, but if you’re not making it happen at that age, you are already having a late start. Self-admittedly, I had a late start, so to each their own.
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