The Brazilian made no secret from his disappointment over the recently ended Malaysian Grand Prix, when Ferrari had an excessive trust in the weather forecast on Saturday afternoon and kept both Massa and Fernando Alonso in the pits in the first part of Q1. That mistake eventually cost the two drivers a Q3 presence, as they were unable to record competitive lap times during Q1 once the rain started to pour on the Sepang circuit.
“There is no point avoiding the subject: our race was pretty much over by the end of the first part of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. In simple language, we made a big mistake, me and the team together,” said Massa according to the Ferrari website, avoiding to put the blame entirely on the team's shoulders.
“It was a stupid strategic mistake really and we must learn from what happened and try not to do it again, because in such a closely contested championship, these are the sort of incidents that could win or lose the title come the end of the year,” added Massa, who had to start from 21st place in Malaysia.
The current leader in the overall classification downplayed Red Bull's impressive pace in Malaysia however, insisting that the two RB6s were racing in a league of their own last Sunday because they weren't challenged for the lead throughout the entire race. Additionally, Massa said Red Bull's pace in the race is not as dominant as in qualifying.
“I heard people in Malaysia on Sunday saying that Red Bull was now by far the quickest car and it is true they were in the first two rows of the grid. But over a race distance, I believe the story is a bit different. They are definitely not unstoppable, but we need to improve a bit to be in a better position to stop them,” added the Brazilian.
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