Felipe Massa was frusrated to lose over six seconds at his first pit stop in Malaysia after the Ferrari mechanics had to deal with a wheelnut problem.
For the second time his year the Brazilian had got ahead of Fernando Alonso at the start, but the delay cost him a couple of places. He eventually recovered to fifth.
“I think it was a good race, taking away the pit stop,” said Massa. “I lost a lot of time in the pit stop, and a lot of positions, so I was fighting for every position. Unfortunately I had to wait so long in the pit stop, and it put me backwards to where I started, and I had to start again, which was not easy, but I was lucky at the end, so I think due to what I lost in the pit stop, the luck was pretty acceptable.
“It’s something that we need to fight not to have these problems any more, and be consistent all the time in the pit stops strategies, everything.
“Apart from that, the race was good. The start was even fantastic and the pace on the soft tyres was quite good, a little bit less competitive on the hard tyres, compared to the other guys, but on the soft tyres there was a good pace.”
Massa is hoping that the team can address its qualifying issues for the next race.
“I expect a better race everywhere, not just China. I expect a better qualifying. We were suffering not just in Australia, we were suffering here in the qualifying, so we have to fix the problem that we had in qualifying to be strong in the next race and the next qualifying. If you are better in the qualifying you have more possibilities to fight in the race.”
Adam Cooper F1 
Yes, it was a good showing from Felipe, and a pity the pitstop ruined his chances of a podium.
It wasn’t a big surprise that Felipe was closer to Fernando at Sepang, a track where he has always done well compared to his team-mates, but the big test of his progress will be Shanghai, with colder temperatures to test the tyre heating, and a track where he hasn’t beaten his team-mate since Villeneuve in 2005.
I think with a few more upgrades and a race where more goes right Felipe and Fernando will be at the least ruining Mclaren’s day, and getting Red Bull to show all their cards. Right now there seems to be two issues for the ‘150, qualifying pace and downforce in high speed turns. Felipe is one who is always underestimated, I think we’ll get a surprise performance out of him this year, and hopefully he won’t be asked to give up a position.
Felipe is a genuinely good guy, would love to see him get a good result soon
I agree completely.
Absolutely, that would be fantastic.
Depending on how well Ferrari use the three-week break, Turkey could be a good chance for him, even last year he was well ahead of Alonso at the track.