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Q & A with Felipe Massa

Q. When you had to give the place back to Sebastian Vettel, did you expect him to come past you a bit earlier than he did?

Felipe Massa: Yes. I think it was a little bit of a mistake from my side because I cut the chicane and I went to the wrong side - because I went to the right. It would have been better to go to the left and make Vettel pass me on the right and then I am inside for the corner - it was a bit stupid from my side so I lost the corner there. Fortunately I got the place back after.

Q. From the second stint onwards, you had the pace of the Brawns, so did you have a car that could have won?

FM: I think we need to analyse the second stint, compared to Jenson - and if we had a similar pace then maybe we had the car to win the race if I started from pole position.

Q. So what do you think was still missing?

FM: Well, I think to be honest I think we are still missing a little bit of downforce. So we are still missing slightly a little bit of grip on the car. So, for me they have a little bit more grip than us, and they can work a little bit better on the tyres, so they can work a little bit better on the qualifying to prepare the car in the right way.

Sometimes in the race we show a great pace, in the conditions you fight, but we are still missing a little bit more downforce and a bit of grip. We need to use better the tyres, especially in qualifying, and also when it is necessary.

Q. Now that you have settled down with a new upgrade package since Barcelona, do you feel you have emerged as the second quickest team ahead of Red Bull?

FM: I think maybe we need a couple of races to be sure that we are the second strongest team. For the moment I think it is too early to say - Red Bull sometimes they are very, very strong and sometimes they are a little bit less. So I think we need to wait for Turkey and another race to see where we are. We need to make more points, we need to finish the next race in front of Red Bull, and hopefully in front of Brawn as well, to show that we can be the second team and fight every race to be on the podium and maybe to win the races.

Q. The difference between third place and fourth goes back to qualifying yesterday. Can you explain a bit more about what went wrong?

FM: Well, I was in traffic. For us the best lap time was coming on the third lap - not the first or the second. So my best lap was on the second lap and I finished the lap completely on the tail of Mark Webber. Then the third lap I lost. Kimi did the same lap time as me on the second lap and then on the third lap he will fight for the pole position.

So if I had been able to do the third lap then perhaps I was able to fight with them. Plus, if I started in the top three with the amount of fuel I had, I was able to fight for third or second in a very positive way. Third was easy. If I was not baulked by Jenson at the end of my stint, I was so quicker I would have been able to get past Kimi.

Q. Jenson Button has won five races so far this season. Can anything stop him winning the championship now?

FM: I think it is difficult for the moment. It is difficult to think about what could stop him. I think first of all in our direction it is to stop about how we can make another step forward and how we can win the first race, then the second and then some races. That is the most important thing for us. For sure Jenson is in a comfortable position to think about points. Sometimes he doesn't even need to win, so maybe just finishing on the podium is already very important for the championship.

Q. The Brawns had a different tyre strategy to you. Would it have been good for you as well to have done that?

FM: No. For us it was the best strategy what we did - especially if you see after when I passed [Sebastian] Vettel I think I was 16 seconds behind Kimi and Rubens, and in four or five laps I was maybe seven seconds behind. So for me the right strategy was to start on the hards.

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