Massa: Lacking in pace

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Felipe Massa said that his Ferrari did not have sufficient pace to hold off a fast-charging Lewis Hamilton in Sunday's German Grand Prix.

With only Nelson Piquet Jr. ahead of him on the racetrack, Massa seemed the most likely candidate to take victory after a McLaren strategy error following a safety car intervention saw Hamilton drop from the lead to fifth place.

However, after Hamilton had passed team-mate Heikki Kovalainen for fourth - which became third after then race leader Nick Heidfeld pitted - the Ferrari driver surrendered second place on lap 57.

Hamilton took the lead from Piquet two laps later; however, the Renault rookie managed to stay ahead of Massa and take second place.

"I saw the pace of my car and I was on the hard tyres because the soft was so difficult to drive, and I just couldn't have the pace," the Brazilian explained.

"Stability was difficult and I think I had a little bit of a problem on the brakes as well. I lost a lot of performance. So I didn't have the car to fight. I tried, but it was not possible today."

Massa ran second for the first half of the race, albeit at times over 10 seconds behind Hamilton as the latter put in laps several tenths quicker than his rival.

"I expected a difficult race because the pace of Lewis in the beginning was so quick and by then I knew that they were much quicker than us on this track," Massa continued.

"Looking at his pace in the race, I think I did a great qualifying because they had so much pace. In the race, the first stint he was half a second quicker and when it's like that you can do nothing."

Nevertheless, Massa earned himself six World Championship points, meaning he now lies second in the table, four points behind Hamilton.

"I think at the end of the day it was a good race because we finished third and we're only just past the middle of the season so the Championship is open," he added.

"We need to work quite hard, for sure, but I know the team will work hard and we'll have a competitive car for the next races."