Massa was not happy with the day, nor did he want to hide his disappointment at the end of his troubled debut at the wheel of the new F150. “We had a problem right at the start of the morning, when I was out on very old tyres,” explained the Brazilian. “It was not nice having to stop pretty much before I’d started the real work, but then, it was a relief to find out it was nothing that serious. Unfortunately, I lost a lot of time and, in the afternoon I tried to make up for it and get a feeling for the new car.”

Obviously, the main focus of questioning from the media centred on the tyres. “I am pleased with how they behaved,” continued the Brazilian. “I think that the fact there is a definite level of degradation is a positive thing in terms of the spectacle. It’s a shame I wasn’t able to do more laps, but the feeling I had was similar to the one from Abu Dhabi, even if that was at the wheel of a very different car. In my opinion, there is not that much that needs changing and I think Pirelli is working in the right direction. We did not try the hardest tyre here, because this track is not best suited to them: when we have done that, then it will be possible to give a more complete evaluation of them.” The Scuderia’s testing at this track ended today. The next official F1 test is scheduled to start on 10 February at the Jerez de la Frontera circuit, when Massa will get the work underway in the F150.