Massa remains optimistic on title chances

The Brazilian is seven points behind the Briton after he failed to score any points in the Singapore Grand Prix after hitting trouble during his first pitstop.

With just three races left, Hamilton won't need to win again to secure his first title.

But despite his situation, Massa says he is approaching the final part of the season as usual, and is adamant his chances are still good.

"Well, I will just try to do the same," Massa told reporters at Fuji. "I will try to do a good qualifying, try to do a good first stint and then an even better second and third stint. We could not manage to do the second stint in Singapore for some reason, but that is part of life.

"So we are seven points behind, we still have a chance and for sure it is a little bit less than we are supposed to have, but we still have a lot of chance. That is the most important thing.

"If we win or we lose, we win as a team and we lose as a team. So I am not the kind of guy who will go back and say it is the fault of somebody or the others. We are a team and that is the most important thing.

"We are strong, we can win and sometimes things happen - although unfortunately it happened so many times this season and we lost important points. But we are a team and we are working strongly and very, very hard to try to win again and try to win the championship."

The Ferrari driver is aware, however, that the fight with Hamilton will not be easy.

"I think he is a very strong driver," he said. "He is a very strong man, and for sure it will be very hard to fight with him - as he has been in many races this season and last season. But I think we are very strong as well. We have shown great performance as drivers, great car as a team, and that is for sure the most important thing for the last three races.

"For sure it is always very difficult to come here and say we will win the last three races. You never know what is going to happen, but we have a big chance. We need to believe that, we need to believe it as a team.

"We need to do the best job we can, finish ahead of our main competitor and score as many points as we can and then we will see at the end of the season who was the most lucky and who was quicker. But that doesn't matter; whoever has the most points is the champion. That is the way it works."

Massa also backed his team's decision to revert to the traditional "lollipop" system for the Japanese Grand Prix after their problems in Singapore.

"I think it is the right decision. So, we had a problem in the last race and to be honest the big difference by having the lollipop is if there is a problem, or there is a mistake, then the guy with the lollipop can move the lollipop and make a huge shunt with your head - so then you brake.

"That is the only difference. But in terms of performance, the traffic light is quicker. We are always trying to have the quickest performance in every area, but unfortunately if you have a problem it doesn't help. That is the only reason why we go back to the lollipop."