Massa sets sights on Red Bull

Felipe Massa is confident Williams can battle Red Bull for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Williams moved into third place in the standings at the Italian Grand Prix after the Brazilian finished third at Monza – his first podium since joining the Grove squad – and team-mate Valtteri Bottas fourth.

That took the team to 177 points, 95 behind Red Bull, but Massa feels they have what it takes to catch their Milton Keynes rivals.

“We’re planning to close the gap in every race… to catch even Red Bull which is a bit far, but you’ll never know,” he told Reuters.

“Everything can change pretty quickly in Formula One in two or three races. The situation is different. Maybe we have the opportunity to fight for the second place.

“I think the work and the job we are doing this year is going very well. So there’s still a lot to improve in the second part of the season and also next year.”

Next up is in the Singapore Grand Prix and Massa is hoping to fight for another top-three finish.

“Monza was a fantastic race for us. We managed to finish on the podium, which was great,” he said.

“We finished third and fourth. We managed to pass Ferrari in the Constructors’ Championship so going for third place, I think it was a very important race for us.

“It was fantastic to be back on the podium. I hope we can carry on being back on the podium for most of the races.

“I think it’s (Singapore) always a difficult race, a different track. Not the best track for us. I really expect we can be there, I really expect we can be competitive and I hope we can fight again for the podium.”