Planet-F1

Massa: A perfect lap wasn't enough to beat Lewis

Saturday 6th September 2008

Felipe Massa concedes Lewis Hamilton was unbeatable in Saturday's Belgian qualifying, stating that even a perfect lap from himself wasn't enough to beat the Brit.

The end of qualifying at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit saw Massa hit the front of the timesheets with a 1:47.6 after putting in what he described as an "almost perfect" lap.

However, it wasn't enough to hold off Hamilton as the McLaren driver put in two fastest sector times to steal pole with a comfortable 0.340s margin.

"To be honest I did an almost perfect lap but it wasn't enough," said Massa, who is second in the Drivers' standings, six points behind Hamilton.

"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."

But despite losing out in qualifying the Ferrari driver is confident of a strong race on Sunday afternoon when he hopes to overhaul Hamilton and take the win.

"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."