Felipe Massa feeling 'very strong' after resurgence in form

The Brazilian has scored more points than anyone other than Sebastian Vettel in the last five races, with a run of form that has helped Ferrari move up to second in the constructors' championship.

As AUTOSPORT reported on Sunday, Massa's performances have secured him a new deal at Ferrari for next year. And the man himself is delighted at the way he has banished his early-season troubles.

"I feel very strong now, to be honest," he explained. "I feel in a strong direction, driving the car more in an automatic way, so I am much more happy.

"To put everything together is really nice, so the most important thing is to go in the car and have fun. When you go in the car and you don't have fun or be happy, even if you have one of the best jobs in the world, it is not nice.

"If you are not happy you cannot do the job in the right direction. So the situation is now happier and much better."

Massa believes that the key to his improved form has been extracting more speed from the car in qualifying, although he thinks Ferrari still needs to be better in this area.

"When you do the first corner and see you are in the top five, things are different," he said. "The race is much easier.

"When you start in a worse position, you have around you many things happen, and you don't know what to expect from the other drivers as well."

"When you understand the car and the tyres it is always easier and better. Anyway, we still need to improve the qualifying.

"If we have a better car in qualifying it will help a lot for the races. Our pace in the race is better than qualifying but qualifying is always much more difficult."