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Massa notes Williams progress in wet conditions

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Felipe Massa says Williams made progress with how its car handles in wet conditions during Friday practice for the Japanese Grand Prix.

Both sessions at Suzuka took place on a wet track, with Massa and team-mate Valtteri Bottas the first drivers to switch to intermediate tyres in FP1. Massa says Williams focused on trying to learn about its car's handling in the rain having struggled in such conditions in the past, and when asked if progress had been made he replied: “Yeah I think so.

"We did some working on the set-up today with the different set-ups with both cars and we did a few runs to understand if the ideas we have worked. Actually it works in the way we understand, the way we believe, so maybe it can help us a little bit in these kind of conditions if it’s raining.

"I hope it’s not raining anyway but let’s wait and see how the conditions are going to be tomorrow and try to learn everything as quickly as we can to be competitive in qualifying and especially in the race.”

With dry weather forecast for the rest of the weekend, Massa sees Red Bull as the main threat to Williams.

“I think if it’s dry we have more chance [to beat Red Bull]. If it’s dry we can be more competitive and we can really show our performance in the best way. So I really hope the condition will be dry.

“I think if it’s wet [Red Bull] are in good shape, I think if it’s dry maybe we can fight and even finish in front of them.”

REPORT: Kvyat edges Rosberg in wet FP2 at Suzuka

AS IT HAPPENED: Japanese Grand Prix FP2

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.