Massa surprised by McLaren's 'incredible' pace

© McLaren

Felipe Massa believes Ferrari are heading in the right direction after posting the fastest lap of the test so far on Thursday, but he admits the McLaren looks like the car to beat.

The Brazilian lapped the Jerez circuit in 1:17.879 on the soft tyre to go quickest, but he described Jenson Button's day one lap - a 1:18.861 - as "incredible".

"I still believe his [Button's] lap was incredible," said Massa.

"On the hard tyres on the first day on the dirty track and everything, it really was a quick lap. I didn't have the car to do this lap time on the first day."

Whilst Massa went a second quicker, albeit on soft tyres, he isn't getting carried away despite admitting Ferrari are in a much better place than they were at this point last season.

"The car is much more balanced. I felt a good direction on the rear of the car as well, with traction. This is a track that is very difficult on the rear, degradation is very high.

"I think it was a good lap I did, but we can't say what we're going to have at the beginning of the championship.

"I would say that the difference to last year is huge," he concluded.

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