Ferrari to race unchanged car at Sepang

(GMM) Felipe Massa has offered Ferrari's rivals a glimmer of hope ahead of the Malaysian grand prix by revealing that the Italian squad will race an unmodified car at Sepang.

The Brazilian's teammate Kimi Raikkonen won the Australian grand prix in dominant style.

But unlike its determined rivals including McLaren, Massa said on Wednesday that the F2007 to be used this weekend features no new parts compared with the season opener in Melbourne last month.

"So from this aspect, with the same package, our performance level cannot improve," he said.

But referring to last week's Sepang test, Massa explained: "In another sense, we have done more running with the car now, and so we have a much better understanding of the car and how it works, and that is very important."

25-year-old Massa rejects what he describes as "media speculation" the belief that Ferrari looks set to stroll to the 2007 title.

"The competition is very strong and so it will be very difficult," he said, "but looking at what we did in Australia and also last week in (testing), we are looking very strong ourselves."

Massa kicked off his championship campaign with a frustrating fight through the field to sixth at Albert Park, after a gearbox problem put him out of contention in qualifying.

He said: "I am looking forward to having a race from the front this weekend."