Massa urged to help Alonso's title bid

With Alonso's back-to-back victories in Italy and Singapore having rekindled Ferrari's title challenge, the Maranello-based team now wants Massa to play a key role in taking the points off rival teams that could be key to helping his team-mate triumph.

Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo was quoted as saying by Gazzetta dello Sport at the Paris Motor Show: "I have waited for Felipe with great perseverance in the last four races. I want a strong Massa who will shave points off the rivals.

"In Singapore he had some bad luck, but he is in good condition to win. Those who race for Ferrari don't race for themselves, but for the Ferrari team colours. One who wants to race for himself will have to face his team."

The call to arms for Massa comes in the wake of the controversial German Grand Prix this year where the Brazilian was asked by his team to sacrifice victory in favour of Alonso.

That decision resulted in the team getting fined and facing an FIA World Motor Sport Council hearing, but di Montezemolo believes that move was a key element in helping the outfit get back in the title chase.

Speaking about the reasons for Ferrari's resurgence, di Montezemolo said: "First of all the decision to focus on Alonso has been proven to be right. He is extremely strong and very close to the team, and has been able to blend in well from day one despite the concerns of some.

"The second is the spirit of determination of the team that has never been broken and disjointed, it has shown great ability to respond and fight back and knows how to win even under pressure. The third is to have also focused on people like [Stefano] Domenicali and [Aldo] Costa who have proven to be absolutely vital".

Di Montezemolo also has no doubts that Ferrari will repeat history and take the championship fight all the way to the finale in Abu Dhabi.

"It has been a strange season," he said. "We won the first race, then we had some problems with the development of the car. The victories at Monza and Singapore have rekindled hope.

"I've been thinking about one thing and I invite you to do so too: from 1997, if we exclude the year 2005, we either won the F1 championship or we lost it in the last race.

"Ferrari has always been team to beat. We won eight constructors' world championships in the last ten years, it is important for me to reach the highest levels in Formula 1 this year as well. We're second and we will contest the championships until the very end."