Formula One news

Massa's perfect lap not enough

Felipe Massa may have put in an 'almost perfect' lap in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, but it was not enough to beat Lewis Hamilton to pole as the McLaren driver responded by going 0.3s quicker.

"To be honest I did an almost perfect lap but it wasn't enough," said Massa. "Sometimes you do a great lap and are still missing something. I think in qualifying they showed a better performance than us and we need to understand why. We don't know how the fuel loads work out from McLaren, but I think they were quick through all three sessions which is a sign that they are strong here."

"The race is long and starting from the front row is very important so lets try to have a good race tomorrow," he added. "The car feels good and the balance is there, we just need to pick up some more speed to find a couple of tenths to be ahead of them. It wasn't there today but hopefully tomorrow we can do it."

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