• Australian Grand Prix

Massa rues low track temperature

ESPNF1 Staff
March 27, 2010 « McLaren suspects adjustable ride-height on Red Bull | »
Felipe Massa had a tough session when the track temperature dropped © Getty Images
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Felipe Massa blamed his disappointing grid position for the Australian Grand Prix on the colder track conditions in the final session of qualifying.

He ended up fifth but was a substantial seven tenths of a second off the pace of his Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso in third. After warmer conditions in practice, he had been expecting a better performance but said the car was more difficult to drive when the cloud cover brought the track temperature down to 21 degrees Centigrade.

"Not the qualifying I was expecting, going into this grand prix," Massa said. "Ever since the temperature dropped, I have always struggled to find the best way of getting the tyres up to temperature, while yesterday morning for example, when it was hotter, the situation was much better. With today's temperatures, I had no grip, which is not particularly encouraging."

He said he was hoping for better conditions tomorrow and was looking to finish as high as possible in the race.

"Let's hope it's a bit warmer tomorrow. In FP3 I really found it difficult, but come the end of qualifying I still managed to get a reasonable result. It's definitely not ideal in terms of looking for a win, but all the same, I will try and bring home a good number of points. This race is very tough, partly because, as we have often seen in the past, anything can happen here."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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