Felipe Massa believes having to switch back to Ferrari's old specification front wing cost him lap time in Abu Dhabi this evening, with the Brazilian explaining that the new design offered more grip and braking stability. Despite his troubles, the São Paulo man will start from sixth place, sharing the third row with team-mate Fernando Alonso.
"To be honest, I hoped for more from this qualifying," Massa stated. "I struggled more than expected to get the best out of the tyres on the first flying lap: maybe it would have been worth trying a longer run, with two attempts. As expected, today McLaren and Red Bull showed they have the edge over us.
"In the end, we are in the grid positions we can expect in this final part of the season. Sure, having to use the old type of front wing cost me something in terms of performance: in India, when we compared the two versions, I immediately felt the new one was an improvement, giving more grip and better stability under braking.
"Having said that, I don’t think I could have got a place on the two front rows. Tomorrow we will have to see what we can do. Certainly the DRS will help with overtaking, but we have seen on other occasions, even with the moveable rear wing, that it is not a foregone conclusion."
Further post-qualifying feelings from Ferrari:
Alonso: We can fight for the podium
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| Pos. | Driver | Team | Time | Laps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. |  S. Vettel | Red Bull | 01:38.481 | 16 |
| 2. | L. Hamilton | McLaren | 01:38.622 | 15 |
| 3. | J. Button | McLaren | 01:38.631 | 14 |
| 4. | M. Webber | Red Bull | 01:38.858 | 19 |
| 5. | F. Alonso | Ferrari | 01:39.058 | 16 |
| 6. | F. Massa | Ferrari | 01:39.695 | 20 |
| 7. | N. Rosberg | Mercedes | 01:39.773 | 17 |
| 8. | M. Schumacher | Mercedes | 01:40.662 | 18 |
| 9. | A. Sutil | Force India | 01:40.768 | 17 |
| 10. | P. di Resta | Force India | no time | 15 |
| Full results | ||||
| Felipe Massa | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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| More Felipe Massa photos | |||
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