Massa expecting strong Hamilton

Hamilton had headed into the Fuji event vowing to play it safe in his quest to guarantee points - but an aggressive lunge past Kimi Raikkonen into the first corner saw him lock up and force his rival wide.

That incident not only dropped Hamilton down the order but resulted in him getting handed a drive-through penalty - which, allied to being hit by Massa, meant he scored no points.

But despite the events, Massa reckons that it would be wrong to judge Hamilton's strengths and weaknesses based on just what happened in Japan.

"It is always difficult to speak about one race," said the Brazilian, who closed the gap to Hamilton in the title chase down to just five points.

"You need to speak about it race by race. Maybe you come here and have a difficult result, and then you go to the next race and are very strong again. You never know.

"For me, there will be two races that are very difficult, and very tough. But he can be very strong and we can be very strong. And we need to believe that."

Ferrari are adamant that their good relationship with McLaren will not be affected by the tensions of the title battle - and Massa too says things will not change between himself and Hamilton.

"We have a good relationship," he said. "I admire him as a driver and as a person, and I am sure he admires me as well. I am not trying to bring problems on the track onto the outside.

"I have no problem to say hello to him, and even discuss some stuff and have some fun. No problem. I will not change my approach."