(Williams Martini Racing)
Williams Martini Racing's Felipe Massa has stated that he believes that the Grove based outfit can be competitive at every Grand Prix this season following a fantastic start to the season. Massa claimed the teams first pole position since the 2003 German Grand Prix at the Austrian Grand Prix earlier this season.
Massa was in action for the team during Tuesday's test day at the Silverstone circuit and topped the time sheets with a 1m 35.242s and the Brazilian has stated that he feels the Williams team have been improving steadily since he joined the outfit from Ferrari at the end of last season.
Massa commented:
'I think it shows to look how much the car has improved during the championship, The updates have worked and the car shows it is competitive when we bring more updates, so I hope we bring a lot more. The chance to be in line to improve the car is there so whatever new things we have in the next race will work and will make the car to be quicker. Hopefully this canH always be in line to keep us in front of teams like Ferrari and Red Bull.'
'I'm sure today is a very positive result for us as it shows the car was the quickest in Canada, except from Mercedes, also the second quickest in Austria just behind Mercedes, and even here [at Silverstone race and test].'
Williams have leapfrogged the Sahara Force India Formula One Team into fourth place in the Constructors championship and are now only three points behind Ferrari in the race for third. The team have had two podium's in the last two consecutive Grand Prix compared to Ferrari's single podium which came back in April when Fernando Alonso finished the Chinese Grand Prix in third place.
Massa went on to say:
'I think Germany is a little bit more similar between here and Canada, but Hungary is a different track. The engine counts a lot less in Hungary, there's lots of corners where you need good down-force. Looking at the car that we have it might be that the car is more competitive in Germany than Hungary but we should have new things for Hungary as well which should make the car better for this type of track, so I hope we will be competitive everywhere now.'
The Brazilian concluded by speaking about topping the time sheets today and when asked if it will count towards the team's performance in the upcoming German Grand Prix. He said:
'Not too much, to be honest, The track today is a little different to Hockenheim. Today was trying something, some ideas for the future, maybe even next year. Also just doing some laps as well, I didn't do so much for Hockenheim but the car showed good pace straight away so it was good to feel the car like that.'
Massa has yet to stand on the podium with the Williams team this season and this is something that he will be hoping to rectify this at the German Grand Prix. This is the race where, in 2010 Massa was asked by Ferrari to let Fernando Alonso overtake him. A situation similar to that will not happen with the Williams team this season.
© Ben Johnston 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment