Massa eyeing victory in Bahrain

Felipe Massa is eyeing victory at the Bahrain Grand Prix after dominating Friday`s practice sessions at the Sakhir circuit.

The Ferrari driver set a best time of 1:31.420 to finish nearly a whole second quicker than teammate Kimi Raikkonen in the afternoon.

Massa is yet to open his points accounts this year after retiring in Australia and Malaysia.

The Brazilian says he would be happy with a podium finish on Sunday, but he admits he will go for victory if possible.

“For sure I like the track, I always go very well here,” Massa told reporters. “Hopefully I can say the same thing on Sunday. I love the track here, I have good memories as well.

“I think looking that I still have zero points, a podium will definitely be a good result, but sure if we can fight for a win and bring 10 points home it will be better. Let`s just get the best weekend we can.”

He added: “I did a very good lap. For sure it doesn`t represent everything because Kimi was doing one thing and I was dong another thing, I did a very good lap.

“I feel comfortable for the weekend. For sure it will be quite competitive, me and Kimi like always, and we need to look forward that we started in the right direction and the base looks good for the weekend.”

Massa reckons Ferrari will not have a big advantage overs their rivals in Bahrain, despite having tested there for six days during the winter.

“It`s difficult to imagine. It was different days, the track was dirty today,” he said. “It was the first day and for the first day it is not so bad, so it is very difficult to make a comparison.

“The car now is better than the car this winter, let`s wait and see on Sunday if we did a good job or not.”

4.4.2008   ▪ Formula One    ▪ Massa    ▪ www.autosport.com