- Williams
Williams 120% better prepared in 2015 - Massa
Felipe Massa says Williams has come on leaps and bounds since the start of 2014 and is convinced the team has the tools to win a race this season.
Williams had a slow start to 2014 but ended the campaign as best of the rest behind Mercedes, though it missed several opportunities to win a race. Much of that was down to Williams taking a more conservative approach to consolidate points after a tough 2013 but Massa thinks the team has changed its outlook since then.
"100%, even 120%," Massa said about how much better prepared Williams is this year. "The team is a different team compared to one year ago, but even compared to how they finished 2013. I really hope this team can fight and we can give everything in the best way every race and every moment. I'm working for that and I'm hoping we can show that."
When asked if the team felt ready to win, he said: "I think so. I think the team is still growing, we're still working to improve and not to make some mistakes which we made during the [2014] season. We're working to get the best out of the strategy, the best out of the mechanics, the pit stops, the drivers, the car, the evolution, development … I think the team is much more prepared. We're still not as big as some other teams like Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull but I think we're in a position to fight."
Massa is pleased there were no unpleasant surprises for Williams over the winter but he concedes the true pace of Mercedes is still a big unknown heading into this weekend's Australian Grand Prix.
"I think everything we feel in the car is what we expected. Everything we saw from the numbers, from the car, from the wind tunnel, we saw it on the track. I think this is very important, but we also saw a big difference with Mercedes which is not a surprise looking at what they did last year.
"So this is another big fight which we're going to have all season, but we're ready to fight. Forgetting Mercedes - because we don't know if they're really far away like we saw in testing or not - so I think we are ready to fight with the others as well. I hope we can take the best out of the car every moment we're on the track."
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