Massa hindered in qualifying by tyre temperatures

Felipe  Massa wasn't impressed with his qualifying performance in Barcelona where he ended the day P9 on the timesheet.

The Williams driver struggled with the temperatures of his Pirelli soft compound tyres throughout the afternoon session as he did his best to preserve his rubber's performance from dropping off before the end of his fast run.

"It wasn’t a fantastic qualifying, because we knew the best we could achieve today was seventh, and we’re ninth," lamented the Brazilian.

"I struggled with overheating on the tyres throughout qualifying, especially in sector three. It was quite difficult even to get into Q2, and Q3, because the tyres were getting too hot."

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Massa tried several approaches to avoid the overeating issue, but to no avail unfortunately.

"I was really slow on all of my out-laps, slower than all the other cars, but it just wasn’t working. I then decided to go even slower to see if the tyres could survive for the last sector.

"It helped, because I picked up some pace, maybe four tenths, and I managed to make it through to Q2.

"In Q3 I was the slowest car on my out-lap again, but the tyres were too hot in sector three and I lost a bit of time and maybe a couple of positions because of the issue.

The 36-year-old veteran is keeping his hopes up for the race however, and even said he will be  happy to see a McLaren racing in his vicinity tomorrow.

"But, the race is tomorrow. We will try to do the best we can and fight with the teams around us, even the McLaren is in the mix. Fernando did a great job today. "

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