F1: Massa Pleased As Ferrari Gets Worse

Formula 1

F1: Massa Pleased As Ferrari Gets Worse

Ferrari driver is confident about the race...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 23, 2012 Sepang (MAS)

Felipe Massa of Brazil and Ferrari drives during practice for the Malaysian Formula One Grand Prix at the Sepang Circuit on March 23, 2012 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Felipe Massa was happy with progress in Sepang today – despite being only 16th and a lot slower than Ferrari team mate Fernando Alonso in the afternoon session.

In the morning he had been quicker than the Spaniard with a car rebuilt around the spare chassis, but changes in the afternoon made it worse – and Massa saw that as good news, as it gave the team a lot more information about what not to do.

“I started the morning with a different car, and it was very positive,” said Massa. “And then in the afternoon we tried different pieces, and even pieces we tried in Australia, and everything went in a worse direction, so I think that was very positive to understand the direction.

“The car I started in the morning was completely different to the car I ran in the second session, and I think that can be very positive at least to find why things were difficult in Australia, so I think tomorrow it’s a big step that the car can be much more competitive in terms of what you guys saw in terms of lap time this afternoon.

“Here we’re suffering with instability at the rear, especially in the slow corners, in the high speed there’s a big understeer at the front, so let’s say it’s a mix. But I think it should improve a lot, talking about my side, for tomorrow.

“For sure it was positive, now I want to go in the car with everything right, everything ready, the best we have. And this will be tomorrow.”

Massa remains confident that he can have a much better race this weekend.

“We need to concentrate on scoring points, scoring as many points as possible. How much, we’ll see how the car is going to be in qualifying, and how it’s going to be in the race as well. For sure we don’t have a very competitive car, but I hope we are able to fight to score as many points as possible.”

Adam Cooper notched up his 27th season as a racing journalist in 2011. He has written about F1 for SPEED.com since 2005. Follow him on Twitter.

The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED