BUDAPEST, Aug 2, 2008 (AFP) - Championship contender Felipe Massa is adamant he can still challenge his McLaren rivals for victory in Sunday´s Hungarian Grand Prix.

McLaren´s Lewis Hamilton topped the times ahead of teammate Heikki Kovalainen in second, but the Brazilian Ferrari driver believes he could have set a faster time if he had been able to warm up his tyres properly.

Massa said: "I wasn´t 100 percent happy with my laps in Q3 because I went on to the track a bit at the wrong time. There were so many slow cars on their out lap. I like to go flat and quickest but you cannot pass them so it is tricky to prepare the tyres.

"We are pretty strong, we didn´t seem to be pretty strong until this morning but then look at laptimes of Q1 and Q2. I think we are there. For sure we are not like the race in Hockenheim, and Silverstone was a big lottery, but we are there and I think I can push these guys tomorrow."

Massa added that the new aerodynamic ´shark fin´ engine cover has helped the performance of the car.

"Well, sometimes what you see is not really the reality." said Massa, "Sometimes they put big bits in the car and it is very visible, but sometimes a small piece makes it more efficient with more downforce.

"It is part of development. It goes a little bit better but on or off it will not improve half a second. It doesn´t work like that. We are pushing very hard and I am sure we are going to push harder from this race to end of the season."