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Jerez, Spain - Ferrari have their work cut out in Formula 1's pre-season testing to turn their ugliest car in years into a winner that the tifosi can come to love, said Felipe Massa.
Massa, who has been sent various warnings that he could lose his place at the team at the end of the season, completed 95 laps and was seventh fastest on the second day of the opening Jerez test.
Mass said: "Actually there is a lot of work. It is a brand new car and it is not a (type of) car that we had in the last years; even to start with. So it is a car that needs a lot more work, a car that you need a lot more things to try as well.
"Today I did so many laps, just trying such different things on the car. It was a programme really in the direction to understand every single point from the car. I think it was so many things to do which it was not the case in the past on the first day even," he said.
DON'T SWEAT THE 'LITTLE STUFF'
Massa, who hands over to double world champion Fernando Alonso, said it was the 'little stuff' that the team had to understand.
Asked whether there had been any unwelcome surprises, he said that was always to be expected in a new car.
Massa said: "Sometimes you don't see the result that you expect. Some other parts as well, you have a different direction. A new car is always like that. I think it is just the beginning of a big job to have a consistent and competitive car."
The F2012 has a distinctive stepped nose like other new cars, with the exception of McLaren, but is generally agreed to be the ugliest of the bunch.
That was one thing that Massa was not in the last worried about, however.
"We don't see the front wing. We just look to the front so we can't see this new step which is very ugly to be honest," he said.
Massa, who has been sent various warnings that he could lose his place at the team at the end of the season, completed 95 laps and was seventh fastest on the second day of the opening Jerez test.
Mass said: "Actually there is a lot of work. It is a brand new car and it is not a (type of) car that we had in the last years; even to start with. So it is a car that needs a lot more work, a car that you need a lot more things to try as well.
"Today I did so many laps, just trying such different things on the car. It was a programme really in the direction to understand every single point from the car. I think it was so many things to do which it was not the case in the past on the first day even," he said.
DON'T SWEAT THE 'LITTLE STUFF'
Massa, who hands over to double world champion Fernando Alonso, said it was the 'little stuff' that the team had to understand.
Asked whether there had been any unwelcome surprises, he said that was always to be expected in a new car.
Massa said: "Sometimes you don't see the result that you expect. Some other parts as well, you have a different direction. A new car is always like that. I think it is just the beginning of a big job to have a consistent and competitive car."
The F2012 has a distinctive stepped nose like other new cars, with the exception of McLaren, but is generally agreed to be the ugliest of the bunch.
That was one thing that Massa was not in the last worried about, however.
"We don't see the front wing. We just look to the front so we can't see this new step which is very ugly to be honest," he said.