Felipe Massa has admitted that Ferrari aren’t happy with how he has performed recently in comparison with team-mate Fernando Alonso, but he insists they support him.
The Brazilian has just two points from five races thanks to a ninth place finish in Bahrain. However Alonso currently leads the championship with 61 points alongside Sebastian Vettel which has prompted Ferrari to call for Massa to step it up a gear.
The 31-year-old believes the gap to Alonso has somewhat been distorted by bad luck and less than favourable conditions during the races, but he did concede that the Spaniard is currently driving ‘perfectly’.
“I think that this year, the only race where there really was a big difference between me and Fernando was in Australia and then, in Malaysia the rain made it more complicated to get a clear picture,” he said in a team Q&A.
“Starting in China, the difference in qualifying between the two of us was not so dramatic. Even in Barcelona, but for the traffic, my time in Q2 was in line with previous events and on Sunday my pace was not that far off.
“I think we must also take into account that, at the moment, Fernando’s driving is amazing: he is on super form, maybe even perfect.”
Whilst Ferrari has been making its unhappiness over Massa’s recent results public, he believes they’re behind him 100 per cent.
“Absolutely, yes, I feel the whole team stands by me,” he added. “Obviously, they are not happy with the results and neither am I: [what] we all want is to get out of this and return to normal. It’s possible and for sure it’s what I want and I know that with the team’s help we will manage it.”
Massa also moved to deny his 2009 Hungarian qualifying accident has had a detrimental impact on his competitive ability.
“I have asked myself that forty five thousand times,” he said. “All the doctors I consulted are prepared to swear hand on heart that there are absolutely no traces of the impact with the spring. As for myself, I don’t feel in any way different to the way I was before that weekend.
“If it was true that I no longer had the same will to win as before or the same courage, then how can one explain the fact that, at the race start, I am probably still one of the best drivers and I am not the sort to hold back when it comes to overtaking?”
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