F1: Massa Not Unhappy Despite Missing Points In China

Formula 1

F1: Massa Not Unhappy Despite Missing Points In China

Felipe Massa is taking his struggles at Shanghai in stride...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted April 18, 2012 Shanghai (CHN)

Felipe Massa struggled in the Chinese GP. (Photo: Getty Images)

Felipe Massa’s frustrating season continued in China when he again finished out of the points – despite running as high as second when his two-stop strategy saw him stay out for a late first stop.

“I think it was a race where we could fight,” said Massa. “Unfortunately, it didn’t work so much at the end, the strategy, so much traffic as well. At least it was a normal race from the beginning to the end.

“Our car wasn’t so competitive. As you saw, one car finished ninth (teammate Fernando Alonso), the other one 13th, in different strategies. That showed that the pace was not incredible, but I did what was possible.”

Despite the obvious frustration, Massa insisted that it wasn’t all bad.

“For sure, I’m very disappointed, but for myself I’m a little bit more happy than the first two races," he said. "Everything was going good the whole race. We tried different strategies between the two cars, and it didn’t work too well for both. Fernando (Alonso) scored little points, but, anyway, he got maybe even a little bit less traffic. Today there wasn’t so much possible; let’s look to the future.”

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.