Massa refuses to give up championship challenge
Massa is confident he can still challenge for the title
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Saturday, 04, Oct 2008 11:54
Ferrari's Felipe Massa has refused to give up hope of winning the Formula One drivers' world championship despite falling seven points behind McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
Massa dropped the points when he drove away from a pit stop with his refuelling rig still attached at last week's Singapore grand prix.
However, the Brazilian says the incident shows how quickly points can be won and lost and still hopes to overhaul Hamilton even though there are only three races left in the championship.
He said: "For the championship it depends how you look at it: a seven point gap can be a lot or it can be a little. If you look at what happened to me in Singapore where my gap went from one point to seven so suddenly, then you have to consider it could easily go the other way as well.
"It can be done and we need to think positive and we need to keep fighting to the last race."
The next race is in Japan where Massa struggled last season in wet conditions but the Brazilian was quick to point to the Ferrari's speed last year in dry weather.
Unfortunately for Massa, title rival Hamilton says he enjoys the race at Fuji regardless of the conditions.
The Briton said: "I love Japan. Last year might have been difficult because of the wet weather and the poor visibility, but I actually really enjoyed that weekend.
"But it's always easier for us drivers to race in the dry; I'd always prefer a dry race."
Hamilton will hope to repeat the win he achieved last year to further boost his gap ahead of Massa.