• Singapore Grand Prix - Qualifying

Massa not planning to help Alonso

Felipe Massa: "To be honest, talking from my heart, I don't know if Fernando needs my help" © Sutton Images

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Felipe Massa does not think he will be able to help Fernando Alonso in his championship challenge at the Singapore Grand Prix because title rival Sebastian Vettel is too far ahead.

Massa will start sixth on the grid for Sunday's night race, one place ahead of Ferrari team-mate Fernando Alonso. Massa is due to leave the team at the end of the season and earlier this week said he would start racing for himself rather than the team in order to try to secure a drive elsewhere next year.

When asked if he would try to aid Alonso in his pursuit of Vettel, Massa said he did not think his team-mate needed his help.

"What help can I give?" he said. "Sebastian is starting first and I think Fernando needs to pray for an issue on Sebastian's car. It will not be easy to finish in front of him, something needs to happen. So I don't think I have a lot to do to be honest. I will do the best race I can and I want to finish my last seven races with Ferrari in the best way I can. To be honest, talking from my heart, I don't know if Fernando needs my help."

Massa said he took a completely new direction with his car set-up to turn his fortunes around in qualifying.

"Having struggled so much yesterday and in the third free practice session, today in qualifying, we finally managed to put together a good lap, completely changing the set-up on the car," he said. "Certainly the gap to the quickest cars is still big, but today, doing a time that is close to that of the Red Bulls or Mercedes was really difficult, partly because they have not suffered as much as us from a lack of grip and because we find ourselves on a high downforce circuit."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.