Massa hopeful over tyre issues

Felipe Massa is hopeful that Ferrari is close to rectifying the problems it has had with the hard tyres this season - as he believes the outfit is now making good progress with its car

On the back of Fernando Alonso challenging for victory in the Monaco Grand Prix, Massa is upbeat that Ferrari is now in a position to repeat that form and feel confident that it will not be hindered at future races when harder compound tyres return.

"I hope we have a competitive car, and I hope we can be in a good direction with Red Bull and McLaren, especially looking at what we did at some races where we were competitive and fighting with them," he said.

"When we have a race where our car is working with the tyres we are competitive, even more in the race than in qualifying, so I hope this can be another track that we are able to fight in the good direction in the race."

When asked about comments from Ferrari technical chief Pat Fry that the team had got a better understanding of the troubles it has faced with the hard tyres this season, Massa said: "For sure we still have a little bit of time until we race again with the hard tyres, which will be Silverstone.

"It is a direction that until there we need to improve the car and make it a bit better with more downforce to work on these tyres. I hope we can see that."