After a disastrous season debut in Australia, where both cars failed to finish, Ferrari is hoping for a fresh start here at this weekend's Malaysian Grand Prix where the Formula One team needs points to avoid falling behind.
''We need to recover and start scoring points and restart our championship campaign in a good way, right here in Malaysia,'' driver Felipe Massa said ahead of the race weekend.
In comments posted on the Ferrari media website, the Brazilian admitted that it would not be easy to beat the Brawn GP cars which took first and second place in the Australian Grand Prix last Sunday.
''But I hope we can do a good job, improve and maybe be able to change a few things to close the gap between the Brawns and everyone else,'' Massa said.
Brawn GP, the former Honda team, is now owned by Ross Brawn, who was part of Ferrari's 'Dream Team' - that also included driver Michael Schumacher and team principal Jean Todt - which won six constructors' championships in a row (2000-2005) and five straight titles for Schumacher (2001-2005).
Looking back at the race in Australia, the Ferrari driver explained that ''we didn't finish for reliability reasons, which was our biggest problem, still for most of the race I was in third place and that would have been an acceptable finish.''
''We made a mistake in the strategy, by using the softer tyres at the start of the race, which did not work out with the arrival of the Safety Car and the fact that I had opted for three pit stops,'' he added.
On Sunday, Massa said, ''we need to be clever in how we tackle the strategy in terms of the possibility of rain, the arrival of darkness during the race and any other elements''.
''I have no idea what effect the rain might have this weekend: it could be good, it could be bad. For sure it will be a gamble which could completely change the result of the race,'' Massa added,
Teammate Kimi Raikkonen also saw the race being conditions by the rain, which is typical in this tropical climate in the afternoon.
''When it rains here it tends to fall very hard. It rains like crazy for about half an hour then it stops, and the track dries very quickly. This makes it tricky, especially for qualifying,'' the Finn said.
Raikkonen, who won here last year, was keen to warn against reading too much into Ferrari's poor performance in Melbourne.
''That was only the first Grand Prix and there are still lots of races to go. Malaysia is a different challenge so anything could happen. It's too early to say on Thursday, so let's wait at least until after Friday practice, to get a clearer picture,'' he said.
''The track here has many unique characteristics, even if it is more 'normal' than the one in Melbourne, but the heat, humidity and chance of rain means that anything can happen. This explains why usually there is a different arrival order than in Australia, which is always a little strange anyway,'' he added.
The Malaysian Grand Prix will be held unusually late, at 5pm local, which Raikkonen said ''should be okay in terms of visibility, although there is usually a bigger chance of rain at that time of day''.
