Ferrari may have leapfrogged Williams in the chase of Mercedes, but Felipe Massa insists that the team is still in a strong position.
The season has not got off to a perfect start operationally, and the absence of Valtteri Bottas from the Australian GP grid didn't help, but Massa says that the potential is still there.
“I think we cannot complain about how we start the season,” he said in China on Thursday. “You always want to be on top, but we are third in the championship, so we scored some good points as well, even losing some good points in the first race from Valtteri who was not there racing. But even counting that, I think it was OK. So we cannot complain [about] where we are, we always want to have more, we always want to be better, to be more competitive, and also we saw that Ferrari was pretty good.
“I think it was the team that made the most steps forward compared to how we finished the last race. We need to work as hard as we can to fight with them and even trying to get closer or better compared to Mercedes as well. We’re working for that, we just need to keep pushing and knowing race by race where we are, but I think we cannot complain. We are not far away compared to where we finished [last season], so we are there in the fight.”
Massa acknowledged that the team still has work to do: “I think you always have some room for improvement. You always can improve and you always need to keep working to improve the car, that’s what we’re doing, but it’s also what the other teams are doing, to improve maybe the car, the procedures, the pit stops, the pace – everything is important for every race, Here we have some new parts but I think maybe other teams will have as well, so we need to wait and see. I hope we bring what expect to bring race by race, which is always what we are working for.”
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