Felipe Massa reckons he is starting too far back to achieve much in German Grand Prix

The Brazilian was caught out by the weather conditions and failed to complete a flying lap at the start of the second qualifying segment.

When he did manage a lap, the track was already too wet and he was unable to set a competitive time that would allow him to reach Q3.

Massa qualified down in 14th place, 13 positions behind Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso.

"It's a real shame, because the car was and is competitive, both in the wet and in the dry, but tomorrow I will start too far back to fight for the top places," said Massa.

"I will do my very best, as always. It will be important to choose the right tyres at the right moment. We have some idea, but it's a fact we were unable to do many long runs over these two days."

The Ferrari driver admitted it had been a mistake at Turn 8 that cost him the chance to set a lap early on in Q2.

"I did not manage to do a time at the start of Q2 because I went wide at Turn 8 and so was unable to put together a good lap in the only window available to do so. At that point on the track, the Tarmac is different and it is very easy to lock the wheels and thus lose a lot of time.

"Then, it was raining so hard that there was aquaplaning. I had to try and stay on track while also trying to improve my time, but the conditions meant this was absolutely not possible, even when I tried with the extremes."