Massa: Beating Red Bulls a realistic aim for Russian GP

Red Bull, which had entered the season hoping to mount a title challenge, has been the third-best team in the field in 2017 so far, although its fortunes did improve last time out in Bahrain.

However, it has not been close to rivals Mercedes and Ferrari throughout the Sochi weekend and has fallen into the clutches of F1's midfield teams – with Massa, who qualified sixth, splitting Red Bull drivers Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen on the grid.

Asked whether beating both Red Bulls was a goal for Williams heading into qualifying, Massa said on Saturday: “Yeah, I think it was the target. We saw that we are much closer to them here, at this track. Maybe it's not the best track for them, and it is a reasonably good track for us.

“Even on Friday on the long run, we were quite competitive. I think maybe we have a chance to fight with them tomorrow, and that's really nice. I really hope we can have a good race tomorrow and score some good points.”

Massa conceded, however, that it would be “very difficult” for Williams to keep pace with Red Bull after Sochi, with the Russian track appearing particularly unsuited to the Austrian team and it planning a major chassis revamp for the Spanish GP.

“We know Red Bull are working massively to improve the car, they're going to have the B-car in Barcelona," Massa added. "To beat Red Bull or to keep fighting every track, is something that is quite difficult.

“But we need to really, first of all, think about tomorrow and maybe this can be a good track.

"We know that Red Bull have more downforce than us. Here is a track that maybe they suffer a little bit in terms of speed compared to us.

“Barcelona will be the opposite - Barcelona, I'm sure they will be closer to Ferrari and Mercedes, not us closer to them.”

Stroll won't be extra cautious

Massa's rookie teammate Lance Stroll, who will line up 11th on the grid, has yet to finish a race in F1, having retired due to a brake failure in Australia and on-track incidents in China and Bahrain.

Asked by Motorsport.com after qualifying whether he would be adopting a cautious approach to the Russia race to ensure a solid result and more race mileage, the Canadian said: “No. I feel like when I go racing, no matter what happened in the past, it doesn't change my present mentality, I just try and be as smart as I can be and take the right decisions.

“I know that for the last three races, it's not like I did something completely wrong to then be scared of now. I just need to forget about that and be focused on what's happening right now.

“Tomorrow, it's definitely going to be a start, I think, that everyone is going to have to be smart and cautious, because it is a tricky first corner at the start here, we've seen that in the past. It's going to be important to take the right decision and stay out of trouble."