Felipe Massa has claimed nobody was anticipating Ferrari to be so competitive in Formula 1 this season.

The fabled Italian team has emerged level with, if not ahead of, Mercedes in 2017, despite many believing the new design rules introduced may not suit the Maranello outfit.

Commenting on the form of his former team, the Brazilian also took a dig at Red Bull claiming their success so far was proof F1 was very much about a team effort rather than one person.

“Ferrari is doing something that nobody expected this year,” Massa said. “Nobody expected to see Ferrari doing what they are doing, and that is really nice.

“It shows that just because you have Adrian Newey in your team that doesn't mean everything will be better than everybody,” he added, referring to Red Bull's renowned designer.

“So it is just for the people to work together in different areas even if they don't have like a top name they can do a good job. Nobody expected that.

“In November if you ask me I would say the only team that can fight Mercedes is Red Bull. So Red Bull did not do the right car and Ferrari did.”

The 11-time Grand Prix also thinks the surprise return to form for the Scuderia is a great thing for F1 fans, after three years of Mercedes domination

“At least two teams are fighting. When you have four cars fighting for victory, people want to see the fight, they want to see all the teams winning,” he commented.

“If you can see every race a different team or different driver winning it would have been perfect, fantastic. But at least championships with more than two cars fighting are much nicer for the show and public.”