Felipe Massa sure Ferrari is 2013 F1 title contender

Massa is currently the top Ferrari driver in the standings, 18 points behind championship-leading Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel.

Ferrari finished second with Fernando Alonso in Australia, but after the Spaniard's early crash in Malaysia, it had to settle for Massa's fifth place.

But the Brazilian said it was more important to look at Ferrari's general trend than the current points situation.

"I know we have only done two races, but I have a good feeling so far this season," he said.

"The work we did with the F138 over the winter has taken us in the right direction and the car has much more potential.

"Of course, I always want to be fighting for the win, although that did not work out in the first two races, but the signs were good with an excellent race pace and now we have to keep moving forward race by race.

"All I can say is that there are definitely more than two teams that are capable of fighting for the wins and the championship.

"Our team is one of them, with the car moving forward in the right way and it is delivering results on track that we expected when looking at data in the windtunnel and the factory.

"In Melbourne we had a car that was capable of winning and in Malaysia the car was again competitive, even if conditions made the race something of a lottery."

Massa believes Ferrari can make another step forward in China this weekend.

"We are well prepared for China and we will have all the updates we hoped to bring with us in Shanghai, after work in the factory and the simulator last week," he said.

"I hope this translates into a further performance improvement on track.

"The aim is to fight for a lot more points, for a podium, for a win even, because you have to set yourself high targets."