Felipe Massa says he is “100% certain” Williams’ poor form during last Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix will not repeat itself in the future, after he and team-mate Valtteri Bottas only managed 12th and 13th at Budapest.
Coming off a very strong performance on home soil at Silverstone, the British squad endured its toughest race weekend since last May’s Monaco Grand Prix, another twisty venue that shares similarities with the Hungaroring.
“I am 100% certain it was a one off,” said Massa. “What happened yesterday was a hard race. We were very strong in the last one fighting for the podium and the first place, so we need to understand what happened because we have another slow circuit which is Singapore.
“But we will have many good tracks for us, so it is not a problem. I am sure we will be back on our pace, which will be good for us.”
Although Massa had a smoother ride than Bottas during an action-packed race, the Brazilian veteran was equally baffled by Williams’ overall lack of performance
“The pace was really, really bad and I don’t know why. Behind the traffic, with the prime tyres, I couldn’t drive at all missing overall grip in the car. Then the best stint was maybe the last one with the option tyres but even with that I was not quick.”
“It was disappointing to see that we were not on the pace. If [Red Bull] are on the podium it is because they deserve it and did a good job. We are not in the podium because our pace was not there.”
“I think something was not making the tyres work in the race, maybe the temperatures I don’t know, we were out of the range.”
REPORT: Vettel wins chaotic Hungarian Grand Prix from Kvyat
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
