Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa was left lamenting a disastrous race for him in Bahrain after failing to score for the fourth event in a row.

The Ferrari driver, starting from eighth position, finished in a disappointing 14th place after all sorts of problems during the race.

Massa made contact with team-mate Kimi Raikkonen at the first corner, damaging his front wing and having to pit to replace it. On top of that, his telemetry wasn’t working and his KERS was also malfunctioning.

The Brazilian admitted there was nothing he could do after such a troubled day.

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Felipe Massa is under no illusions that he can repeat last year’s victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but the Brazilian is aware that Ferrari must kick-start its championship campaign at Sakhir.

The Italian squad has failed to score any points in the first three races of the season, equalling its worst start since 1981.

Massa also endured a tough first part of the season last year, before winning in Bahrain and going on to fight for the title until the final race of the year.

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Q. Felipe, we heard that you have seen the new Abu Dhabi circuit?

Felipe Massa: Yeah, it’s amazing. I’m really impressed with the circuit. I never saw such a huge construction in my life. It’s 17,000 people working 24 hours a day, it’s just amazing. For sure the circuit is not ready. It’s completely under construction but you can see that it will be the most impressive facilities and the most impressive circuit in Formula 1.

Q. How far ahead are they with the work?

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Felipe Massa is hoping Ferrari can have its KERS back in its car by the next race in Bahrain, after the team decided not to use it in China.

The Italian squad, which is yet to score a point after two races, used the device in Australia and Malaysia, but has decided to run without it in Shanghai in order to minimise the risk of problems.

Massa, who qualified down in 13th place for tomorrow’s race, reckons KERS would have made a big difference for his team today.

“Yeah, definitely,” he said. “In qualifying (it would have been) half a second. In qualifying it’s a big difference, also in the start, but unfortunately we don’t have it.

“It’s a step back, so I hope we can have the KERS back in the next race. Bahrain is a very important track for KERS, so I hope we can be more competitive.”

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Felipe Massa says Ferrari will avoid the complacency that left him in the midfield in the Malaysian Grand Prix and will start operating differently from this weekend’s Shanghai event.

The Brazilian was only 16th on the grid at Sepang after Ferrari believed he would not need a second run in Q1, only for other drivers to improve and push him out of the Q2 qualification spots.

Massa said that proved Ferrari was in a totally different situation to 2008 and had to work accordingly.

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Felipe Massa says it is not too late for Ferrari to compete for this year’s world championships, but accepts that the team has a ‘lot of work’ to do following the International Court of Appeal’s decision to allow the continued use of ‘double-decker’ diffusers.

Ferrari has suffered its least most competitive start to a season since 1992, and the team has accepted that it must develop a diffuser similar to those used by Brawn GP, Williams and Toyota if it is to fight for race wins in 2009.

“For sure it won’t be easy,” said Massa in China. “We need to work very hard, we have some teams which have a different car. It won’t be so easy to catch them but I think it can be possible.

“I hope it won’t be so late. I hope it will be in good time to fight for the championship still or to win some races. But anyway we will not give up. We work very hard and I believe we can improve the car a lot.”

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