Massa defends wet-weather F1 form.

Felipe Massa has spoken out to defend his wet-weather prowess in Formula 1, despite having floundered in the rain-lashed British Grand Prix at Silverstone a fortnight ago.

The Brazilian spun a total of five times during the race around the Northants circuit en route to 13th place - and last - at the chequered flag, allowing both Ferrari team-mate Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren-Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton to join him atop the title standings.

That marked the second wet outing in which he has struggled this year - after he fell away to a distant third place from pole position in Monaco - and gave further ammunition to those who had claimed he would be one of the drivers most ill-at-ease in the sport's new, traction control and driver aids-free era.

Whilst Massa has seemingly bounced back in Hockenheim this weekend - consistently out-performing defending F1 World Champion Raikkonen throughout both practice and qualifying to line up on the front row of the starting grid alongside Hamilton - he insisted he did not view his German form as a kind of 'recovery'.

"In my career, I have been quick in the wet," the 27-year old told reporters at the Baden-W?rttemberg circuit, "Even in go-karts I always won in the rain.

"I don't believe it when people say I am not good in the wet. I haven't forgotten how to drive in the wet now I am in Formula One.

"I just had a very bad weekend at Silverstone - not just the race, but the whole weekend was very bad for me. What we saw today here was not the recovery. It was just what we are able to do. That's our target, to be competitive and we are so it's just normal."