• Second Barcelona Test, Day One

'Confident' Massa unsure of order

Felipe Massa completed 112 laps on Thursday and set the eighth-quickest time © Getty Images

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• Drivers:
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Felipe Massa admits that while he's "confident" Ferrari has a strong car he is still uncertain if it is among the frontrunners.

After driving the F138 on Thursday at Barcelona, Massa has just one day left in the car before the opening race of 2013 in Australia. With Mark Webber having claimed that Red Bull is not setting the pace but in a group of fast cars at the front, Massa said he hoped to be part of that group but can only judge Ferrari on last year's pre-season.

"For sure I am confident, you are always very confident at the beginning of the season," Massa said. "The feeling of the car is positive as well, as we've said many times if we compare last year and what we did last year, this year is much better. The feeling for the car, I think the car behaves much more in a good direction. But until you drive in the qualifying with the same fuel and everybody with the same tyres and everything it's really difficult to say. But I trust in the team and I hope we can be there in the top level."

Focusing on his penultimate day in the car, Massa confirmed he completed a fuel run-out test late in the afternoon and said he was pleased with how his race simulation went even though he didn't set a time when the track conditions were at their best.

"Well last week's test I think was positive in a way. We had one day with bad weather which was the last day when I was driving, but apart from the last day I think it was important - all the three days we did in the dry - to understand the car, to understand the tyres, to understand so many things around the car; the reliability as well.

"This week, today was not so good, it was a disaster again, but even in the bad weather I did a lot of laps. I did a race simulation in the afternoon, I was happy that I could finish the race without any problems and that was important. It was the first race simulation that we did in all these sessions including Jerez. The car was good in the wet. I drove the whole morning in the wet and I would say in a race simulation it was also good. To be honest, when I was driving even compared with all the cars that were doing race simulations at the same time I think it was positive."

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