Massa encouraged by fastest time

Felipe Massa admits he is taking encouragement from setting the fastest time of the final day of testing at Jerez.

On a damp last day of running, Massa topped the timesheets by almost a second from Fernando Alonso while also enjoying improved reliability as he completed 86 laps in the Williams. Asked whether being fastest or completing more laps encouraged him more, Massa replied: "Both.

"Being first is always nice. It has been a long time since I finished a test first, but it is still the first test, there are still many cars missing so it's not enough. But it is always good, always positive, doing more laps than we were before but there are still some teams doing more laps than us."

After his first two days driving for Williams, Massa said he was further buoyed by what he had seen from the team.

"For sure I'm happy with the day and I'm happy with the first impression with the team. There's definitely still a lot of work to do and we still have long days in front until the first race - so many teams are not driving here - so it's too early. We can't forget that this is still testing and I think that maybe this test is even more difficult to explain compared to last year, for example.

"Anything can change, anything can change in a few days, but I am happy that what I found inside the team is better than I expected. The team is very good people, very professional people. So many new faces, so many people inside the team that knows how to make a Formula One car, knows how to make a race car, and I think the working together with the team, the improvement that you feel ... for sure I'm happy.

"I have a competitive team to work with and I think that's really nice."

And Massa said he has already been able to push the car enough to find out where it needs developing.

"I already gave some very good information yesterday how the car feels. I already gave some very good information on where I think it needs to be different and where I think it needs to be better."