F1: Massa’s Struggles Caused By Lack Of Grip

Formula 1

F1: Massa’s Struggles Caused By Lack Of Grip

Qualifying was no fun for Felipe Massa on Saturday in Melbourne...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted March 17, 2012 Melbourne (AUS)

Felipe Massa struggled in Melbourne qualifying. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Felipe Massa says a simple lack of grip was the cause of his struggles in qualifying in Australia.

The Brazilian only made it out of Q1 in 17th because Kimi Raikkonen didn’t get his final lap in, and would have been 17th and last in Q2 had Sergio Perez not had a gearbox failure, which gifted him one place.

“The weekend is a little bit more difficult that what we expected,” said Massa. “We expected to be a little bit more competitive than what we are. So I’m sure the track doesn’t help 100 percent our car, but I expected to be better than what we are. I was fighting all the time with the balance, to have the balance, to have the grip. I was struggling massively without the grip in the car. That was really the main issue I had today.

“So for sure whenever I improve the balance I find a lot of time, because fighting every corner, easy to pass a little bit the limit, because you lose the rear, the traction is difficult. For sure the track is not helping that. Anyway, it was a little bit more difficult than what I expected and what we expected. Now we need to concentrate for tomorrow, to make a better job in the race than in the qualifying, and then concentrate, as well, to improve the car in the quickest way we can.”

Asked by SPEED.com if he was disappointed to have such a bad opening to the season when he needed a flying start, he said: “I’m not disappointed, just because I was fighting to find the balance of the car all the time. It was very difficult; I’m disappointed because of that. I’m sure if I had a normal car with the grip there, it would have been no problem.”

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.