Massa hopeful of Ferrari boost posted in F121 | 07 | 2010

Brazilian Felipe Massa, who started the year so strongly for Ferrari, heads to Hockenheim this weekend confident he will return to the front of the grid as a result of recent improvements to his car. After racking up podium finishes at Bahrain and Australia, and at one stage holding the lead in the race for the world championship, Massa has struggled to find any consistent pace or reliability.

Since Australia, the Ferrari driver has plummeted to eighth in the championship - 30 points adrift of his team-mate Fernando Alonso - and has only two top six finishes to celebrate.

"The beginning of the season was not what I expected,' Massa said. "The first two races were okay, we had two podiums, and then we didn't have good races, especially in the last three. I'm not happy.

"When you have three races in a row where something happens in the race and you cannot score points, and you go from being in a good position to suddenly last because something has happened, these things are not nice.

"That was the case in Canada because of the accident at the first corner, and in Valencia because of the safety car, and at Silverstone because I had a tyre issue and went from fifth to completely last."

Massa though heads to germany confident the changes and improvements Ferrari have made to the car's exhaust have already helped the team close in on the searing pace of both the Red Bulls and McLarens.

"In the last two races,we brought some new parts on the car which I think was a good improvement. Compared to the previous races I think we made a step forward and we had a competitive car,' he continued.

"I think it is important to keep your motivation that the car is getting quicker and hope that for the next race we have an even better car. It gives even more motivation to keep pushing and looking for a good result in the next race."