Massa optimistic despite no pole

"I got a little bit of a warm up problem on the last try because going out of pits Ralf got in front of me, so I backed up a little," explained Massa, who finished in second place, less than two tenths of a second behind McLaren rival Kimi Raikkonen.

"The tyres need warming up so maybe I lost a bit of heat in the tyres and maybe lost me pole but these kind of things happen.

"We always have trouble with traffic but I am happy to be in the front row and tomorrow I hope we can have a strong race like Hockenheim."

Massa looked like the favourite to clinch pole position, but a last-gasp effort moved Raikkonen to the top of the times.

The Ferrari driver, however, is still optimistic for tomorrow.

"I think it will be a very competitive race tomorrow," he said. "We are confident in our tyres and should work on the consistency as well, so hopefully tomorrow we can attack and make a very strong race."

Teammate Michael Schumacher will start the race from 11th position after being hit with a two-second penalty for overtaking under red flags in practice.