Q & A with Felipe Massa

Felipe Massa: No. I don't understand. Maybe the consumption. I don't know.

Q. So you had to come in?

FM: Yeah.

Q. You couldn't have gone any further?

FM: I don't think so.

Q. After about 60 laps, you were 20 seconds behind, three tenths of a second behind. Is that more or less where Ferrari is?

FM: In Q2 we were two tenths slower. In qualifying, in Q3 we were four tenths slower because of the fuel. Usually the picture is similar in the race. Two tenths in the race is quite a big difference. Most of the time they were going slowly away. So that's the real picture at the moment.

Maybe we are still a couple of tenths behind. Red Bull I don't know because I was always in front of Vettel, so I don't know if I was holding him a lot or he was really similar. We still need to improve, but I think if you compare the car we had in this race and the car we had before it's a big stop forward. That's really, really encouraging.

Q. It must have been very disappointing when the team told you about the fuel?

FM: We didn't have a problem with the calculations. We had a problem with the machine. But I don't know if the problem was human or the machine. We need to analyse what was the problem.

It was very frustrating. You fight the whole race and then you have to back off. I was already saving fuel in the last run, but it was not enough, so I had to really back off and let Vettel go. I lost a position to Fernando and almost to Nick, so it was quite frustrating.

Q. How has the car improved?

FM: It's much better to drive. It's more consistent, you can be more aggressive under braking. We just have more downforce. It's just much better. I felt it straight away on Friday.

Q. Was there a chance to stop for fuel? What was the discussion with the team?

FM: My engineer was asking me to save fuel, but I was trying to save while fighting for my position with Vettel. He said maybe we could carry on like that and be okay. Then he said it was impossible. I think by the time it was worse to stop, so I don't know.

Q. With the speed of the Brawns and the points' advantage Jenson has, do you realistically think you can catch him?

FM: In the championship? No, I don't think so. We need to be realistic. After five races they won four. Even if we improve massively and we are three or four tenths if front of them they will still score points. So forget it.