Massa: We can turn things around

FELIPE MASSA

Home | News | Driver Profile | Official Site | Results in F1

Tuesday 22nd July 2008

Felipe Massa is convinced Ferrari will show their true colours in Hungary following another grey performance in Hockenheim.

The Prancing Horse has been more Shetland pony during the last two grands prix weekends in which Lewis Hamilton has stolen the show.

Victories for the McLaren driver in Britain and on Sunday in Germany have catapulted him into a four-point lead where previously there was a 10-point deficit.

In this year of swings and roundabouts in Formula One, it would not be a surprise to see Ferrari rediscover their form in a fortnight's time at the Hungaroring.

For Massa, there can certainly be no repeat of the last two races, especially yesterday when the power of the McLaren and Hamilton's brilliance blew away the field.

Ferrari must now be at the races again in Hungary, otherwise the title could well be heading Hamilton's way, ending McLaren's nine-year drought.

"Yesterday was not a great day for us," assessed Massa.

"It was a difficult car to drive, and I don't know why. I'm sure we have a great car, but for some reason something was not working.

"Although it was very difficult in this race, that doesn't mean we will not be competitive in the next race.

"I'm sure we will be because we have been so competitive in many races this year. I'm sure we are going to regain our normal pace and we're going to fight again."

You would expect nothing less than that kind of talk from Massa, but Ferrari now have four days at the next test in Jerez - starting on Tuesday - to cure their ills.

Massa feels "hard work" will help get to the root of a problem team boss Stefano Domenicali is to evaluate in finite detail.

Troubled by the step up in performance found by McLaren, Domenicali said: "I don't want to make any premature assessment.

"We need to go deeply and analyse the reason for this situation because there is no easy solution.

"But what we have seen is something we haven't seen from the start of the season in terms of consistency and pace.

"It's clear McLaren have made another step forward in respect of the consistency during the race.

"During the weekend, in the long runs, they were pretty good. But on the other side, I'd say we were too slow and we have to understand the reason why."