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'Red Bull is very quick and that's a fact' - Massa

Felipe Massa is keeping an eye on the Red Bull © Sutton Images

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• Felipe Massa

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• Red Bull

Felipe Massa believes it is a matter of fact that the Red Bull RB7 will be quick this season, although he is confident Ferrari will be among the front runners.

Massa finished the Barcelona test with the fastest time of the week, but he said he was not underestimating the competition.

"Where are we compared to the others? I don't know and until we are all doing the same things at the same time, in other words at the first race, then we won't know for certain," he said. "The Red Bull is definitely very quick and that's a fact. Today [Monday], we did a good lap time and I think we are not off the pace: however, yesterday [Sunday] Rosberg was quick for example and you definitely cannot rule out McLaren and some other teams.

He added: "Both myself and Fernando did a real and genuine race simulation and we tried all the types of Pirelli tyre with different fuel levels."

The new tyres have been a talking point throughout testing, with higher degradation and definitive gaps between compounds likely to spice up racing. Massa said the way teams approach race strategy could be very different.

"It's easy to predict there will be more pit stops compared to recent years," he said. "Degradation is higher and it's definitely not easy to look after the tyres. It's true they give good grip, especially on the softer tyres, while the medium and hard are not so good in this respect, although their degradation is similar to the others. From what we have seen so far, it means the race strategies could be very different to previous seasons."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.