Massa sure of Williams improvements in wet weather

Felipe Massa claims Williams has improved in wet conditions, but admits his team must seize any opportunity to go out on track during what should be another truncated day of free practice in Austin.

Local weather forecast announces heavy rain for Friday and Saturday at Circuit of the Americas. This would confine F1 teams and drivers to limited running in the build up to the United States Grand Prix, which is due to take place on a dry track.

Despite not being able to prepare in representative conditions for the third consecutive grand prix weekend, Massa insists Williams needs to secure as much as mileage as possible in the light of its past wet-weather struggles.

“We need to wait and see how things are going to be,” said the Brazilian, who had clocked the fastest time during a rain-afflicted FP2 session at Sochi two weeks ago.

“Whenever we have an opportunity to go out on the track and do some laps – even if this is in the wet but in reasonable conditions to drive – I think we need to do it.

“If it’s massive rain, maybe we need to wait. It can even be that we lose a session. But when it’s possible to go out on track, we should do everything we can.

Massa also thinks that more track time will help confirm Williams' recent breakthrough in the area.

“We have more confidence, we’ve understood things and seen improvements in the wet. To know how much that is, we need to have a proper session like qualifying or even a race to be sure that we've understood things in a proper way.

“We believe we [have progressed] compared to what it was before. It’s difficult to answer 100%. I think we need to wait for the right session to be sure.”

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