Massa: motivation still high at Ferrari

That is the view of Felipe Massa, who claims that Ferrari are still fired up for the title battle, even though the initiative in the title chase has been seized by their rivals in recent races.

"The motivation is high," he said at Indianapolis. "It needs to be high because we need to try to the best we can always - even if they are in front.

"We know the championship is very difficult at the moment, but we try to get everybody together to make the best we can out of the team to be in front of them. That is what competition is all about."

Teammate Michael Schumacher recently admitted that Ferrari now had to go on all out attack if they were to stand any chance of catching Alonso. And Massa thinks that Ferrari's latest push has left them in good shape for Indianapolis this weekend.

"I am optimistic honestly," he said. "We need to always be optimistic, even looking at how Renault is strong this year. I am optimistic to make a good result, to make a good race, and for us to in front of them.

"We could not be in front of them in the last race, but we have many races to go and we need to try everything we can now."

Massa has denied that the growing gap between Schumacher and Alonso in the title fight has increased the pressure on him to start producing better results to help his teammate's chances.

"It is not to do with just me, it is to do with both of us," he said. "We need to both be in front of them (the Renaults).

"It is not just a question of Michael being in front of Fernando and me in front of Giancarlo Fisichella. We both need to be in front of whatever driver is on the track. That is the goal."