Felipe Massa in the Ferrari F2012 during Sepang qualifying
Mar.24 (F1 Media) Felipe Massa’s early-season woes continued today as the Brazilian was unable to scrape into Q3 in a Ferrari F2012 car he says he is only beginning to understand.
Felipe Massa and his Ferrari race engineer Rob Smedley
Struggling for balance, Massa finished the one-hour shoot-out as the 12th-quickest man and will line up on the grid behind the Williams of Pastor Maldonado and the 10th-placed Sauber of Sergio Pérez. “Clearly, I can’t be happy with 12th place,” Massa said afterwards, “but we know that, at the moment, we do not have a very competitive car. Getting through to Q3 is very difficult and today I could only get close to this target.
“Yesterday and today in FP3, I was not satisfied with the balance of the car, but we managed to improve it for qualifying, which leaves me feeling confident for the race and for the future. I think we have begun to get a better understanding of how this F2012 works and that is positive.
“It will be a very hard race, where tyre degradation will make itself felt and there will also be the threat of rain hanging over it. I hope I can get a better result than this twelfth place.”
As for the pressure mounting, the Brazilian was philosophical, “Pressure? It comes from my own will to always do the maximum and when I don’t manage it, I am the first to be unhappy.”