Massa Vows to overcome McLaren

Ferrari star Felipe Massa has vowed to bridge the gap on Formula One frontrunners McLaren, starting at this weekend’s United States Grand Prix in Indianapolis.

Ferrari won three of the first four races of the season with Kimi Raikkonen taking the season-opening Australian Grand Prix and Massa winning in Bahrain and Spain.

Then the Ferrari campaign hit the skids, with the team drubbed in Monaco as McLaren’s Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton secured their one-two finish.

Then Massa was disqualified in Canada last weekend as the Brazilian ran a red light exiting the pit lane and Raikkonen was outpaced by BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld, the Williams of Alexander Wurz and Renault’s Heikki Kovalainen as the Finn had to settle for fifth behind race winner Hamilton.

McLaren have a 28-point lead over Ferrari in the constructors’ championship, the sort of dominance enjoyed by the Italian team at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 2000, with Michael Schumacher winning six of the seven Grands Prix at the venue.