Massa: Poor first half spurs me on

Felipe Massa admits he is not at all happy with how the first half of the season and has gone for him, but says in recent setbacks have given him fresh motivation to turn his fortunes around.

The Brazilian started the year solidly, taking two podium finishes in the first two races and briefly holding the championship lead, but has not all scaled the rostrum since and has been overshadowed by Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso.

After failing to score points in the past three rounds and then slumping to eighth in the standings, Massa feels he is overdue a change of his luck.

“For sure I'm not happy,” he said in an interview with the Ferrari’s website ahead of the German Grand Prix.

“The beginning of the season was not like that I expected. The first two races were okay – we got two podiums – and then we didn't have a good races, especially in the last three.

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

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

“These things are not nice but they give me even more motivation to keep pushing and I’m looking for a good result in the next race.”

Current team	Ferrari
Nationality	Brazilian
Date of Birth	born 25 April 1981
Car #	7
Races	126 (124 starts)
Championships	0
Wins	11
Podiums	30
Career points	387
Pole positions	15
Fastest laps	12
First race	2002 Australian Grand Prix
First win	2006 Turkish Grand Prix
Last win	2008 Brazilian Grand Prix
Last race	2010 British Grand Prix
2009 position	11th (22 pts)