• Singapore Grand Prix - Qualifying

Massa blames rear grip woes for poor qualifying

ESPN Staff
September 22, 2012 « Mercedes pair explain Q3 no-show | 'Mercedes offer him much greater freedom on the commercial side' »
Felipe Massa was unable to solve his rear tyre problems from Friday © Sutton Images
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Felipe Massa said a lack of rear grip was the reason for his poor qualifying performance as he failed to make Q3 in Singapore.

Massa will start in 13th place on Sunday after dropping out in the second part of qualifying while his team-mate Fernando Alonso lines up fifth on the grid. Having struggled all weekend, Massa said he had failed to find a solution to the problem with his rear tyres overnight and predicts a difficult race on Sunday if changes aren't made.

"It was a very difficult qualifying," Massa said. "I really struggled to put together a good lap, suffering particularly in the final sector, where the rear tyres were sliding and, as a result, were degrading. It's a problem I've had since yesterday and we did not manage to fix it. Let's hope we can do something for the race, otherwise it will be really hard.

"We must look carefully at the strategy, starting with which tyre to use for the start of the race: there's a lot of difference in speed between the two compounds, but both seem to degrade significantly. The aim will be to finish the race in the points, which definitely won't be easy, but we'll give it our best shot.

Massa also said his cause is not helped by a lack of performance from new parts which Ferrari had planned on introducing.

"Not all the updates we brought here worked as we had expected and hoped for, which certainly hasn't helped. So we must understand why with a view to the rest of the season."

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