Massa buoyed by Williams pace

Felipe Massa says the Williams FW37 showed itself to be a good car as he topped the times on the first day of the final pre-season test.

Having yet to be quickest on any day of testing so far, Williams topped the times thanks to a 1:23.500 from Massa on soft tyres. Massa’s time marked the fastest lap of the two test at the Circuit de Catalunya so far, and he says the way the car responded throughout the day was encouraging.

“I think it was a good day for us,” Massa said. “The car behaved pretty well. It was nice to see that when we tried to do some good lap times using the best tyres and a series of new tyres trying to do our best to do the lap time, the car was there.

“The car behaved well and I think it was a very good day. Not just because we are there in the front but because the car never shows any problems. Since we started in Jerez we never had any problems and I think that’s very positive for this point and this time of the preparation.

“The lap time was pretty good I think. We cannot forget Mercedes is there and they are really strong but I think we’re doing our work the best way we can. I’m pretty motivated that everything is going in a good line for later on.”

Asked about the improvement of the Mercedes power unit since 2014, Massa says it feels competitive regardless of how much better it is.

“It’s not so easy to increase performance. I think Mercedes was already in good shape but I think they’re doing a good job. They’re still preparing everything in the best way for the first race. I’m still not sure yet where we’re going to be at the first race but until now nothing happened, everything is working pretty well and I’m happy for that.”

Full times and day one of the final test as it happened

Click here for the gallery from day one of the final test