Q & A with Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa: "Yesterday (Wednesday) we did not have a good day, but we are working on the car and the car is getting better. We are preparing the car for next week which is very important. We expect we will do well and the car will be very competitive"

Q. Is the aero package good?

FM: "Yes, it has improved the car a lot, it will help a great deal for the next race, and the one after. We will of course continue to make it better, we have many solutions to make the car even more competitive."

Q. Basically it is more downforce?

FM: "Simply, it's faster! More stable, better quality."

Q. How do you see McLaren at the moment?

FM: "I can only answer that on Sunday next weekend. It is difficult to say as I do not know what they are doing here, I can only tell by their Sunday performance."

Q. With the current configuration, you think you can beat your record time here?

FM: "Easily. We are working on race set-up, not on qualifying laps. We are tyring to improve the set-up of the car in the race, which is the important thing. The performance lap you will see next Saturday only."

Q. Coulthard broke the record today...

FM: "Clearly the record is the topic of the day, it is testing. In the last three races we did okay, we did not have very good races but I have to say we are working in the right direction, and it is getting better. How good we are, we will only see next Sunday, but the car will be very competitive."

Q. Apart from the new aero parts you have here, are you expecting something more for the race, such as front or rear wings?

FM: "I don't think so. We will have the car like we have here now. For next week, we have all the pieces. We will have more pieces to make the car better later on. We have to improve the package in general, not anything in particular. Everything has to move forward."

Q. McLaren do not seem that quick here, do you think they are sandbagging?

FM: "It is really difficult to say. McLaren is competitive in every aspect, which was clear in the first three races, and I am sure they are getting better, and they have new pieces too I am sure. It is not always demonstrated in tests, but just like us, they are improving it."

Q. Which of the McLaren drivers will be stronger in the Spanish Grand Prix?

FM "Both are very good. Clearly Fernando is new to the team, Hamilton is new to F1, but they are both competitive. But maybe with the experience Fernando is more complete. Hamilton is doing a lot better than people imagined, but maybe Fernando will make the difference.

Q. Now we are back in Europe, the real fight starts...

FM: "Well, it has started already and I wish I could change the first two races, especially the second one, but this is not what I am thinking all the time. We have to concentrate on the races to come. There are a lot more races to come where we have to do a good job. All is open for the battle to the end."

Q. Do you share the work with Kimi, do you exchange the set-up ideas?

FM: "I am doing my own work here, testing my set-up. I have not seen his work and I don't know what he has done. We have everything open in the team, whatever he does I can discover and whatever I do he can find out, but all I do is my own job."

Q. You mentioned in Bahrain that it would be nice to go into a break after the win. What frame of mind are you in? All fired up again?

FM: "Yes, I'm really motivated for sure. I am convinced that we can be competitive like we were (in Bahrain). Apart from the results themselves, which were not exactly ideal for so many reasons, I am really motivated. I was happy to win in Bahrain, we are working hard, keeping the momentum."

Q. During the break, did you have a moment or two to think about what went wrong during the first races?

FM: "For sure I always watch the races at home just to see what was wrong. The only wrong thing was the start in Malaysia, the only weak point we need to improve. But I improved that point in the last race, so hopefully I learned and will keep on doing the same."

Q. How do you see the competition? Are the big teams gathering momentum to speed up their development?

FM: "McLaren was the one which was more dangerous for us in the first two races. My opinion is that it will stay like that, it will carry on like that but at the same time you need to pay attention to BMW, which showed a strong performance in the last races, especially Heidfeld was more competitive."