Felipe Massa felt he could have done little more during the qualifying session for the Australian Grand Prix on Saturday but was disappointed to miss out on fifth position to Max Verstappen by the smallest of margins.
The Williams Martini Racing driver was forced to settle for sixth on the grid for Sunday’s race, losing out to Scuderia Toro Rosso’s Verstappen for fifth by just 0.024s, but felt the FW83 was working well around the Albert Park circuit.
“It was a good qualifying,” reflected Massa. “I managed to qualify the best I could, but unfortunately lost out on fifth place by a very small gap. That is the only negative point.
“I did some good laps and the car behaves well, so I am happy. It is tricky, and not easy, going through the session knowing the countdown is on every few minutes.
“Fortunately, I didn’t have any problems on my laps, but if you go out in traffic and you have any problems, it could be a lot closer that it was today.”
Team-mate Valtteri Bottas had a less successful afternoon, being eliminated during the second phase of qualifying and ending up down in eleventh, with the Finn admitting he was struggling to find grip.
“It was a disappointing session,” said Bottas. “I was struggling with grip today, so we need to have a look to see if we got everything out of the tyres, the pressure and temperatures.
“I was hoping to get to Q3, but tomorrow is a new day and from 11th it is still possible to have a good race.”
