Felipe Massa didn’t have an answer for Lewis Hamilton’s searing pace in qualifying today, and when he found out that the British ace hadn’t even been in top gear, the Brazilian refused to believe what he was hearing.
Hamilton, fresh from fresh from back-to-back victories at Silverstone and Hockenheim, breezed to pole position in Hungary today with a searing assault on the Budapest track.
Felipe Massa, who was forced to lead the charge for Ferrari as team-mate Kimi Raikkonen mate floundered for the second race in a row, had no answer the Briton’s pace. And when Hamilton explained to the world’s media that he could have gone even quicker, Massa was left in disbelief.
“Felipe doesn’t believe me,” Hamilton joked as the pair exchanged words in the post-qualifying press conference. “I have a bit of time in the bag still. The car was great.”
“Sector 1 was very strong and I when got to turn 4, the quick left, was fine, and when I got back to Turn 5 I locked up the right front wheel and pushed me on a bit.”
“It might be half a tenth or a tenth but it is all important. Luckily I could save it and the rest of lap was good. Heikki was quickest in final sector so he is pushing me hard. It is good.”
Massa lines up in third place behind the McLaren paring but on the clean side of the track for Sunday’s race. The Brazilian is adamant that he can still change for the race victory despite being squarely beaten by the silver cars.
“I wasn’t 100 percent happy with my laps in Q3 because I went onto the track a bit at the wrong time,” said Massa. “There were so many slow cars on their out lap. I like to go flat and quickest but you cannot pass them so it is tricky to prepare the tyres.”
“I could not prepare the tyres like I was supposed to. I could not do a great lap like in Q1 and Q2. We are pretty strong, we didn’t seem to be pretty strong until this morning but then look at laptimes of Q1 and Q2. I think we are there.”
“For sure we are not like the race in Hockenheim, and Silverstone was a big lottery, but we are there and I think I can push these guys tomorrow.”
