• Italian Grand Prix - Qualifying

Massa regrets approach to Q3

Felipe Massa stayed out longer than any other driver on his first Q3 run © Sutton Images

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• Race:
• Italian Grand Prix

• Championship:
• FIA Formula One World Championship

• Drivers:
• Felipe Massa

• Teams:
• Ferrari

Felipe Massa admitted he made a mistake with tyre strategy during qualifying for the Italian Grand Prix but is expecting to be competitive in Sunday's race.

Massa defied convention by completing two timed laps on his first set of tyre in Q3, forcing him to rush back to the pits for a final attempt. He said he was hoping the soft would offer up more grip on the second lap but it did not pay off.

"I tried a different strategy in Q3 because I was not so sure of the tyres. When I put the soft tyres on in Q2, I couldn't do the best lap on the first lap straight away so it was getting better and better all the laps, so I did three timed laps and the best was the last.

"So I said let's, with the tyres, try and do three laps and we see maybe it's getting better and hopefully the last lap will be the best lap. But then during Q3 it was a little bit the opposite. I tried that but it didn't work as well as I expected with the grip on the tyres. Then I stopped and I was able to go again do a single timed lap on the tyres, but it wasn't enough to fight for the pole."

However, Massa said the majority of his set-up work this weekend had been focused on the race and that he should be in a strong position to fight on Sunday.

"I think we have a good car, I'm happy with the car for the race," he added. "Yesterday we did a very good job finding a good direction for the race and we improved the car massively like we expected and I think we should be very strong tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.