Massa blames mistake and traffic for lost pole

While Felipe Massa has accepted he made a mistake during his final flying lap, the Brazilian reckons traffic during qualifying didn't help his campaign either.

The Brazilian had looked to be a certainty for pole position after dominating Friday's practice sessions as well as the opening two qualifying segments.

However, when the drivers put in their final flying laps in Q3, he ran wide near the end of his own and found himself 0.027s short of Robert Kubica's lap time.

"Definitely I lost (it)," Massa said of his error. "I did incredible laps during the whole weekend and the car was perfect all the time."

The Ferrari driver, though, says he also wasn't helped by traffic in the form of Nico Rosberg who held him during his flying lap.

"In Q3 it was the only time I was behind cars and I did the first try, which was a pretty good lap time as I was the whole lap behind Nico and it was a shame as I managed to get a big gap and he got past me and I was behind him. And the second lap I was in traffic.

"It was a shame as I had a great car."

The Ferrari driver, though, isn't too upset by the situation as he will at least still be starting from the front row of the grid, having finished P2.

"It's still good to start from the front, and I know tomorrow we can be strong," he said.

Massa has yet to score a single World Championship point this season.