ContinueFerrari's Felipe Massa is hoping to banish the bad luck and misfortune which has plagued the start of his 2012 season, by enjoying a strong weekend at the British Grand Prix.
The Brazilian's best finish this season has been has been a sixth place in Monaco, and he believes that while his campaign started off with frustration, he is ready to hit top form.
"It [Silverstone] is a track I enjoy very much. I'm really looking forward to having a good result there.
"For sure it won't be an easy weekend, you have the weather, and it can rain anytime. I think we're going to see some wet racing, so we need to be ready for everything and if you see the last race, the competition was so tight between many teams. I think we need to be very focused on the weekend because now everything is competitive."
In recent weeks Ferrari's F2012 has appeared a lot more competitive, building on from the updated aero-package the car was fitted with for the Spanish Grand Prix.
That will no doubt be tested this weekend, and Massa, who took time out of his preparations for the British Grand Prix to attend a unique event at the Science Museum in London, highlighting Shell’s commitment to science and the technical partnership between Shell and Ferrari, hopes his car will hold out at the high-speed, high-downforce Silverstone circuit.
"[I hope] to be good in the high speed," he said. "We have slow speed as well, which is important to have a good car. I really hope we can have a competitive car this weekend.
"I feel a lot more comfortable in the car, and I'm driving a bit more automatically. I just need to be a little bit more lucky. I didn't have much before. I'm just looking for everything to change in a positive way and really hope we can have a different second part of the season."
Ferrari's chief designer Nikolas Tombazis echoed Massa's sentiments, but refused to be drawn on how he thinks the car will shape up around a forecasted wet Silverstone.
"I'd like to believe that we'd be competitive. We have some improvements, but not huge. Obviously we have had very strong competitors like Red Bull in the last race. To judge where we will be is a game I prefer not to play."
Tombazis conceded that the early part of the season was frustrating for the whole team, and while Fernando Alonso's surprise win in Malaysia was welcome, it papered over a car which was below-par for Ferrari.
"Obviously it's extremely frustrating to get thrashed by other teams and early season was unacceptable for us in terms of performance. I think we are a lot more content with what we have now because we are able to fight for wins, but we are not in any way under any illusions that we are done now."
