Felipe Massa felt it was important to go into the Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying with the new 2016 front wing in order for the team to learn more about it this weekend.
The Williams Martini Racing driver qualified seventh during Saturday’s session at the Sakhir International Circuit, with the Brazilian feeling using the new nose would be beneficial so they can understand how it will work with the rest of the car.
Massa was happy with his qualifying result, finishing just 0.002s shy of team-mate Valtteri Bottas, and is looking for the team to secure a good number of points during Sunday’s Grand Prix.
“It was definitely a good qualifying,” insisted Massa. “We always expected to be a little bit more in front.
“It was a difficult day trying the new wing in practice and then not really having the balance, so we took our time to decide whether or not we would use it in qualifying. We decided to use it and managed to improve our time which was important. We need more time though to understand this front wing to get the most from it.
“I’m pretty upbeat about our position for qualifying, though. We know the race will be long tomorrow. We have one Red Bull in front and also one behind. Both Toro Rossos are behind, as are the other teams we are fighting, so we know the race will be difficult. We will try the best we can to score as many points as possible.”
