Massa still hindered by tyre problems

The Brazilian briefly led the world championship earlier this year, but he has now slipped almost 80 points adrift of title leader Lewis Hamilton. He is also 31 points behind his team-mate Fernando Alonso.

And although he is aware that the safety car issue in Valencia and a first lap collision with team-mate Fernando Alonso at Silverstone cost him valuable points, he still reckons there are bigger factors at play to explain his current form.

"The results of the season so far are not what I expected, definitely," said the Ferrari driver. "We had some bad races, especially the last two were the worst, and especially in the last two races they were events where we should have scored good points and we could not because every race something happened.

"I think also looking at the last two races, we saw an improvement in the car in terms of performance. I think that can also be quite positive for the second part of the championship, so let's try and do a better second part of the championships."

Speaking about the tyre issues, he said: "I think in the races where we had the very hard tyres I was performing much worse than I can because I was never able to make the tyres work. But when we had the soft tyres I was okay.

"I've tried to change my driving style, to make the tyres hotter and better. I am a driver who needs a lot the front grip of the car. I prefer better front grip and even when you have a bit of oversteer you can work to improve the rear.

"That is how I drove up until now. But this year with hard tyres it is very difficult. Lots of people talk only about me, but many, many drivers have the same problem."