Massa: McLaren was the faster car

Massa, who was handed second place by his Ferrari teammate Kimi Raikkonen late in the race, said afterwards that he was 'on the limit' for most of the race but could do nothing to catch Hamilton.

"I didn't have a good start, I had a little bit of wheelspin, even though there was not high grip on our side [of the grid]," said Massa. "Then we just stayed in the same position.

"We saw Lewis was a bit stronger in the beginning of the race, I mean he was stronger the whole weekend.

"He started to pulling away, maybe two or three tenths per lap, and this for sure made his race much more comfortable and for us we were completely driving on the limit trying to reduce the gap, but it was not possible.

"We tried to push, as Kimi was trying to push, to get closer to Lewis, but today unfortunately, Lewis had a better car for the whole weekend."

Massa added that tyres had played a factor around Shanghai, and that he had no option but to begin the race with the softer compound.

"We took the decision to start on the soft tyres and we knew already that most of the people would start on the hard because our car works in a little bit of a different way to other cars, especially McLaren," he explained. "For us the hard tyre had no grip and the car was difficult to drive.

"The soft [tyre] was the only option for the first and second stint, so we decided to start on the soft which was the right decision for us."

Massa appeared slightly dejected after the race, having been outpaced not only by his title rival Hamilton, but also his teammate Raikkonen, who let the Brazilian by on lap 50.

"Well, it was the best time for me in the race and I catch him and I pass him so that was the good part of the race, anyway it was not enough because we are fighting with McLaren," said Massa, who claimed to have drawn positives from helping Ferrari extend its point advantage to 11 in China.

"Today one [McLaren] was in front but we could manage second and third, for the drivers' championship it was not so fantastic but for the constructors' it is very good.

"It is very important to fight for the constructors' and it was good thinking of that. I tried on the drivers' championship but it was not possible today."