Massa pins hopes on softer tyres

The Brazilian has confessed to struggling with the harder tyres that have been used since the Bahrain Grand Prix - and reckons that is why he has been unable to match the pace of team-mate Fernando Alonso.

But with Bridgestone making the super soft and medium tyres - the same choice as in Bahrain - available to teams in Monaco this weekend, Massa is hoping for an improved performance.

"Last weekend wasn't really great for me, especially in qualifying," said Massa in Monaco. "Red Bull was ahead of all the other teams, and I was struggling a lot on the tyres.

"In the race, starting ninth and finishing sixth was not so bad to be honest. We did a good start but then the race was quite boring - stuck behind Jenson, with it difficult to overtake, and struggling a lot with the grip level. I had no grip and couldn't try anything so it was not a very nice race.

"But we hope to do a better job this weekend. We have different tyres which on our car were working quite well in Bahrain, and we hope we can do a better job."