Felipe Massa believes the new and improved hard compound introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix by Pirelli last weekend favoured only Red Bull and McLaren.
The Brazilian finished the race in 22nd position after he retired due to a gearbox issue, though he had been running out of the top ten for much of the race as he struggled with the hard compound.
“Once I fitted the hard tyres, it was almost impossible to drive the car,” he wrote. “I ended up losing all the places I had gained, then I had a spin and eventually with a few laps to go, I had to park the car at the side of the track as I could not select any gears.
“Meanwhile Fernando [Alonso] went from leading the race to being one lap down within the space of about 40 laps which is an unbelievable situation.”
He believes Red Bull and McLaren, the two teams which dominated the race and were the only drivers not to be lapped, were the only cars which managed warm the hard tyre up to a competitive level.
“I would say that in Spain, it looked as though Red Bull and McLaren were the only teams able to exploit the hard tyres properly,” he added.
Massa is confident that the next three races, Monaco, Canada and Europe, will be much better for the Italian outfit as the hard tyre won’t be used until Silverstone in mid July.
“Starting with free practice this Thursday at Monaco, we begin a run of three Grands Prix using Pirelli’s Soft and Super Soft and that should work better for us.
“They will definitely suit the characteristics of our car which is a positive factor.”
