Q & A: Massa bullish ahead of Hungarian GP

Kimi Raikkonen is also lurking, just three points behind Massa in the standings. But all this does not seem to unnerve the Ferrari man, as he insists the Italians remain strong and reminds all that this time last year, their situation was much worse.

Autosport.com caught up with Massa for his analysis of the situation, ahead of this weekend's Hungarian Grand Prix.

Q: What do you feel now about what happened in Germany?

Felipe Massa: "Well, for sure in the last race we didn't find the right performance as we were supposed to have. We understood for sure many of the things that happened in the last race, although I don't want to comment about them because they are (only) for us.

"It is important to understand how it is going to be at this race. And for sure it will be different to the last race, in terms of the performance at the last race. We don't know if it will be easy to win or not, because we know we have a McLaren who are very strong, but at least I think we can be competitive here."

Q: You were dominant at the French Grand Prix, but in the last two races it is McLaren who have dominated. Do you think they are now ahead in terms of the performance of their car?

Massa: "No. It is so easy to say that because they won the last two races that they are the kings. But before these two races they were not the kings. We know how this sport works and we are just a little bit after the middle of the championship, and we still have a long way to go.

"I think we have a good team, we are in the front in the constructors' championship and are second and third in the drivers' championships. We are not far behind, we are very close, and in F1 things can change very easily.

"We are 100 percent motivated to be competitive here and not just here, but also from now on until the end of the season. Then we see at the end if we did everything right or not."

Q: Stefano Domenicali has said in the last few days that Ferrari are not in 'crisis'. But is it fair to say you are in a bit of a slump?

Massa: "Well, to be honest if you take this championship we are better than last year at this time. So I don't think it is the time to change everything - it is the time to work even harder and follow the direction that is good for our car and good for our team. That is what we are doing now.

"We know in a sport like this, that you can have a good day and you can have a bad day - and it is important to focus on what we want. And what we want is not everybody reacting to the media and what they wrote. We want to win and we know the direction - we won many times and we won't change because we had a bad race."

Q: Ferrari have won only once in the last five races. This is not the sort of result expected of Ferrari, so how disappointed are you by that?

Massa: "It is true, but we won many races as well. The last five races are not important, what is important is the championship until now. And it will be even more important until the last race. It is true we had a bad result, but we have had many good results.

"And we need to focus and concentrate on what we think is good, and what we think works to make our car even quicker - and be competitive to win other races."

Q: Do you think the difference to McLaren is only about circumstances - like the weather and temperature? Or is it that they have developed their car quicker than you?

Massa: "Well I think for sure they did a good job in the last few races. But for sure they were favoured by the conditions. I think we can be very competitive again and we are in the direction to push very hard to improve our car - especially with development.

"We are pushing even harder to get things ready before we expect it. That is how we are working now, and hopefully we can have a different result on Sunday."

Q: Lewis Hamilton is number one at McLaren and you and Kimi (Raikkonen) are equal at Ferrari. Sooner or later do you think there could be a decision to change that?

Massa: "For the moment where we are is very close in terms of points. For sure, maybe when we see that one driver has a lot more points than the other driver we will see what we can do. But it is not the case now, and it doesn't change anything at the moment for us. We are always working the same and we will keep it like that."

Q: How much of a disadvantage is it to you that McLaren appear to be concentrating on Lewis Hamilton?

Massa: "It's no disadvantage."

Q: You have said you understand what went wrong in the last few races. Do you think you have solved the problems like temperature of tyres and brakes?

Massa: "Yes I think so. I think we have solved many of the problems we had at the last race. And that is true also for the problems we had in the past as well.

"If you remember last year in Monaco, we had a disastrous race but we had again a good race after. For sure when you have a big problem you work very hard on the problem you had in the race, and you try to change things.

"If you go back to Monaco this year, we had the best car there but didn't win because it was a complete lottery. But we had everything to win the race there, so we understood the problem and we are working hard to be competitive when we approach difficult times again."

Q: How is the shark fin?

Massa: "It doesn't change anything in the car, it is the same. It is just another development, another evolution. At every test we have had different things, but many things we have are not visible for you guys. Sometimes there are things that are not visible but it doesn't mean it is not different."

Q: You talked about implementing solutions to the problems you have had in the last few races. Are they the sort of things that will lift you back to the front of the grid, or will it take longer?

Massa: "I hope so. I think there is enough there, but even if we understand the problem and improve things - for sure the others are improving as well. So we come here, and I think we have the possibility to win the race, but I am not sure. We need to see how the race goes, but what I am sure is that we won't have a problem to be competitive - which we were not in Germany."

Q: Judging by how close the championship is, do you regret not making it harder for Lewis Hamilton to get by you in Germany?

Massa: "I didn't have the possibility to fight. I was in trouble with my car and with my brakes. If I had a normal car, for sure he wouldn't pass me."