Massa aims to maintain Ferrari dominance

Felipe Massa is looking to maintain Ferrari’s dominance at Magny-Cours and hopefully strengthen his own hand in the four-way title race.

Ferrari have won seven of the last 11 French Grands Prix, and the odds are on the Prancing Horse again galloping away with the win.

That is due in part to the fact one of their main rivals in Lewis Hamilton faces a 10-place grid penalty after his gaffe in Canada when he ran into the back of Kimi Raikkonen in the pit lane.

As for current world championship leader Robert Kubica, he is not expecting to be as strong as the Ferraris on such a circuit in his BMW Sauber.

That appears to leave the way for Massa and Raikkonen to fight for the victory, with the Brazilian hoping to go one better than his second and third places in his last two races at the track.

“I am looking forward to having a competitive race because I think it is a good track for us,” said the Brazilian, who along with Hamilton trails Kubica by four points.

“We were pretty strong on the street circuits as well (Monaco and Montreal), so in terms of performance we were not behind.

“But I am happy to come back to this kind of circuit because we can be competitive.

“Usually on this kind of track the race is a little more normal, and if you start in a good position then you have an even bigger chance to finish in a good position. I think it can be good.”

Although Massa knows he should have scored more points than the six he won in Monaco, and in particular the four he claimed in Montreal, he is simply happy to be in the thick of the title hunt.

Especially after his miserable start to the season as he failed to pick up any points from the first two races.

Massa added: “I remember after those two races I was pretty much behind in the championship.

“I have since recovered a lot of points and I am in a very good position, and now everything is open. Everybody is pretty close.

“But we still have many races to go and we know that things can change very quick in one race.

“We need to maintain the performance, keep our concentration and finish most of the races to bring home as many points as we can.

“Then at the end of the championship we will see if we did well or not.”