• Ferrari news

Massa doesn't expect Ferrari tyre disadvantage

Felipe Massa: "To be honest I also complained that maybe what they need to do is to change the hard tyres" © Sutton Images

Enlarge

Related Links

• Race:
• Spanish Grand Prix

• Drivers:
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Felipe Massa doesn't believe that the new Pirelli hard tyre compound will disadvantage Ferrari compared to Red Bull.

Red Bull has been strongest so far this season when Pirelli supplies the harder compound tyres, with Sebastian Vettel winning in Malaysia and Bahrain when the medium and hards were supplied. With the hard compound being changed to bring it closer to the 2012-specification tyre in order to work better in the cooler temperatures of Europe, Red Bull could stand to gain once again, but Massa said that he too had asked for the hard tyre to be changed.

"To be honest I also complained that maybe what they need to do is to change the hard tyres," Massa said. "That's what they did so I think it was a good decision to be honest, but who will be better or worse is difficult to say, so we need to wait and see.

"I think the hard compound was not working like a hard compound. The gap was not like a hard compound, the degradation was maybe worse than the medium so I think it wasn't doing what a hard compound has to do. So I think it should be better; let's see."

Looking at the Spanish Grand Prix weekend, Massa said he is confident Ferrari will be strong in Barcelona.

"I'm confident, we need to be confident. We need to try things on the track to understand exactly how it is, and I'm looking forward to fighting for the victory. For sure we need to understand how the car is [Friday] and Saturday, but we're confident we can have a good weekend with a competitive car not only in the race but also in qualifying. I think we had a good winter here with good lap times, so I hope we can see that."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.