Massa 'not happy' with season so far..

[vcs316]

Felipe Massa has admitted he is not happy with his season so far but is confident he can overcome the problems he is having with tyres during qualifying.

Massa has fallen 78 points off the championship lead at the last three races after failing to score a single point. He has been off the pace of Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso all season and has been out qualified by his opposite number 7-3.

"For sure I am not happy," Massa told the Ferrari website. "The beginning of the season was not like I expected. The first few races were ok, we got two podiums but then we didn't have good races. Especially in the last three races, we had three races in a row where something happened during the race and you cannot score points or cannot finish."

One of Massa's main problems during qualifying has been getting the tyres to hit their optimum temperature - about 100C - during his out lap. The problem is magnified when Bridgestone brings its harder tyres, like it did at the British Grand Prix, but Massa is confident he has found a solution.

"It was not the first time I had these problems, I had these problems in Barcleona and in Melbourne," Massa said. "This year we have very hard tyres and these tyres are difficult to get to work and get up to temperature. On tracks that were a little bit cold and not as abrasive, I was always struggling in qualifying with getting the tyres up to temperature.

"It's not so bad in the race; many places where we were struggling with in qualifying the race was good. The main issue was to have the right temperature and to have the right grip for the first lap of qualifying. If you don't have that then for sure you are struggling and you don't do the lap time you want. So it's something that I'm really pushing hard [to correct] and I'm looking forward to not having [this problem] anymore this year."

He said it had helped that Ferrari had upgraded its car with a blown diffuser over the last couple of grand prix weekends.

"In the last two races we brought some new parts to the car," Massa added. "I think they were a good improvement compared to the previous races. But it's also important that you keep a big motivation to keep the car growing and for the next race you have an even better car."

© ESPN EMEA Ltd.

[Alonsomaniac]

Come on Felipe, put the pedal to the metal! We want to see you back on the podium, together with Fernando!!

[racingbradley]

It needs "pedal to the metal" and a bit of luck for both drivers in Q3. But I am sure they have been doing that at every race this year.
Go Felipe
Go Fernando

[Tifosi]

I think Felipe's issues are more "grip to the circuit" than "pedal to the metal" but I certainly hope the second half of the season is better for him

[Suzie]

I just want him to get this Sunday (exactly 1 year since the accident) and Hungary (evil) over him safely and then I'll start worrying about him getting points. Although decent points in Hungary would be such poetic justice for him.

[Anni]

I just want him to get this Sunday (exactly 1 year since the accident) and Hungary (evil) over him safely and then I'll start worrying about him getting points. Although decent points in Hungary would be such poetic justice for him.

Exactly what I am thinking!

I guess although it could have happend on any track we will all be a bit anxious about Hungary. I will be glad when next Sunday and Hungary is over without any incident. It would be nice to see Felipe back on the podium soon.
Altough he isn´t absolutly on the top at the moment Felipe can be so very proud how he is doing after what happend last year. You need to have a lot of fighting spirit and pigheadedness to come back so well after such an horrible accident. Some people sometimes seem to forget that and all the criticism is unfair in my opinion.

[vagos]

Come on Felipe, put the pedal to the metal! We want to see you back on the podium, together with Fernando!!

exactly my thoughts!