Felipe Massa

Ferrari thinks it’s vital to get its F-duct working better at the Turkish Grand Prix if it is going to close down the gap to Red Bull Racing.

With Mark Webber’s victory at Monaco on Sunday having helped his team move to the top of both championship tables, Ferrari has vowed to make a big development push to try and get itself on terms with F1′s pace-setters.

However, with those upgrades not likely for a few more races, team principal Stefano Domenicali thinks that the key to taking the fight to the RB6 in Turkey will be on improving the F-duct.

“A car that has had six pole positions is very strong,” said Domenicali about Red Bull Racing’s form.

“But on the other hand they did Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa has denied blocking Jenson Button on purpose during qualifying for the Monaco Grand Prix on Saturday.

The McLaren driver was angry at the Brazilian after he slowed down right in front of Button just as the Briton was about to complete a flying lap in Q3.

“Very annoying. I don’t know what the lap time would have been but very annoying that he got in the way because it was blatantly slowing me down,” said Button after qualifying.

Massa said he slowed down in order to get a clean lap, but denied blocking Button on purpose.

“There was a car in front of me, he slowed down and Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa is optimistic he will enjoy a positive Monaco Grand Prix after a good start to the weekend in practice on Thursday.

The Ferrari driver has struggled to get his tyres working properly in recent races, and he endured a difficult Spanish Grand Prix last weekend.

However, things were much better for Massa in Monte Carlo, where he feels the problems are now behind him after posting the fourth fastest time of the day.

“I have good feelings about the car,” Massa told reporters. “The car was Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa says he is baffled by his lack of pace in recent races – and says he cannot understand why he is struggling so much to get comfortable with the 2010 tyres.

The Brazilian has seen team-mate Fernando Alonso seize the upper hand at Ferrari in the last few grands prix, despite the pair having been evenly matched all winter.

Massa thinks the state of affairs is the result of him not being able to work the harder compound tyres that have been used since the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix.

“Definitely I am not happy because the whole winter in tests I was 110 per cent happy with the car and the way I drove,” said Massa after the Spanish Grand Prix, where he was beaten by Alonso all weekend.

“Starting the first race I was 120 per cent happy with the car, and Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa complained about a lack of grip from his Ferrari after finishing a disappointing sixth in the Spanish Grand Prix.

The Brazilian qualified a lowly ninth and, despite making up a further three places on race day, he confessed himself unhappy after a difficult race.

“It was a difficult race,” said Massa. “I got a good start but then I was always behind other cars and I never managed to run at a constant pace. Once again today, the main difficulty was a lack of grip, especially in the third sector: every time it looked as though I might close on Button, he managed to get away from me over some sections of the track. We must work to improve the car’s performance and there is no doubt about it.”

Although team-mate Fernando Alonso Read the rest of this entry »

Felipe Massa is concerned that he is no longer able to find the balance he needs with his Ferrari to be on the pace after he could only qualify ninth for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix.

The Brazilian was unable to match his team-mate Fernando Alonso, who will start from the second row, and he admitted on Saturday evening that he was still unsure of what was causing his problems.

“Fernando is a very good driver, but something has happened to me,” said Massa. “Something is not going like I want, so I can’t do the lap time or drive the car like I want.

“This is something that we need to understand, and improve. It will be Read the rest of this entry »