Damper failure caused Massa's Monza exit

Massa was forced out of Ferrari's home race after just six laps, a retirement that all but left the Brazilian without a chance in the drivers' championship.

Massa is now 23 points behind leader Lewis Hamilton with four races to go.

"I had a problem with the rear damper, it locked the rear damper and the car was bottoming quite heavy," Massa told a news conference at Spa.

"I first thought it was a puncture and called the team straightaway saying I had a problem with the rear of the car.

"It was not possible to go through the corners, the car was jumping and I could not drive. We changed the tyres but the problem was not with the tyres, it was a big shame."

Massa denied the problem had anything to do with Monza's high kerbs.

"It is nothing to do with the kerbs, it is something that we really had a big problem on the damper," he said.

"I don't need to say what caused it, it is a problem that was not caused by the kerbs, just something happened. It is nothing to do with the kerbs, the start or the way I was driving. We had used it already the damper before."

The Brazilian insisted he will not give up on winning the remaining races of the season, despite admitting that his championship hopes are very slim.

"I am still fighting, I still keep my head up and try to win as many races as possible, treat every weekend like an important weekend," added Massa.

"What will happen in the end? I don't know, I won't give up and hopefully I can fight the victory every race. I will only give up when I don't think it is possible any more."