Ferrari overhaul McLaren on final day at German track

Under-pressure Felipe Massa restored confidence at Ferrari by setting the pace on the third and final day of testing at the Hockenheim ring (which sounds like some disgusting German sausage, but isn’t).

Massa was the only driver to dip under the 1:15.00 mark yesterday. After completing 109 trouble-free laps, the Brazilian claimed he was happy with the team’s progress:

“It was a good day’s work… We did a lot of kilometres and I have to say the car felt well balanced. This can only mean we should also be competitive at this track, which is also the case for our main rivals.”

Honda will be encouraged by Jenson Button’s performance. The British driver was second-fastest, with Heikki Kovalainen in third for McLaren.

Full timesheet below:

Hockenheim test, Thursday 10 July

1. Felipe Massa (Ferrari) 01:14.989 (109 laps completed)
2. Jenson Button (Honda) 01:15.081 (121 laps)
3. Heikki Kovalainen (McLaren) 01:15.289 (123 laps)
4. Mark Webber (Red Bull) 01:15.378 (118 laps)
5. Seb Vettel (Toro Rosso) 01:15.556 (106 laps)
6. Fernando Alonso (Renault) 01:15.593 (115 laps)
7. Kazuki Nakajima (Williams) 01:15.759 (119 laps)
8. Robert Kubica (BMW) 01:15.869 (107 laps)
9. Jarno Trulli (Toyota) 01:16.065 (129 laps)
10. Giancarlo Fisichella (Force India) 01:16.113 (74 laps)

Fisi had a day to forget: he crashed again and also suffered a fuel rig malfunction. The Italian said:

“It was a bit frustrating we could not do more running… In the morning we had the technical problem and had to stop for some time, then in the afternoon I had an accident… The rear of the car went away and I just lost control through the stadium complex.

“The car went across the road and there’s not much run off area there, so I went into the wall. I’m fine, but the car was quite badly damaged. The guys did a good job to get it out again for the last 30 minutes.”