Massa optimistic for Singapore

Felipe Massa has yet to stand on the podium this year © Getty Images

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Felipe Massa says the combination of tyre compounds and circuit characteristics makes him optimistic for the Singapore Grand Prix.

With Ferrari struggling this season to get heat in to the harder compounds, Singapore should not see such issues thanks to the soft and supersoft selection from Pirelli. The same combination was used in Monaco where Fernando Alonso finished a close second behind Sebastian Vettel, and Massa highlighted that example as a reason to be upbeat heading to the Marina Bay circuit.

"For Singapore, Pirelli is supplying the Soft and Supersoft compounds, which definitely suit the characteristics of our car better than the harder tyres and if we had a free choice, these would definitely be the ones we would go for," Massa said. "But tyre choice is only one element of the car package and we will have to work hard if we are going to make the most of any advantage we might have at this race. It's true our car was okay at the Monaco street circuit, so we can go to Singapore in reasonably optimistic frame of mind."

Massa also said that the aim would be to score victories before the end of the season, but that he was prepared for a lack of updates as attention turns to next year.

"For Scuderia Ferrari, our aim between now and the finale at my home event in Sao Paolo is to win some races... There is plenty of variety in these (final) six weekends and hopefully we can get good results in all of them. We have to remember however, that at this point in the season, the team's main focus has to be on the 2012 car, so in terms of new developments, apart from components already planned to be introduced for these races, the pace of development on the 150 Italia will now be reduced."

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