The Brazilian, who who was dropped for being “inconsistent”
according to Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo, added that he was still
good friends with both Alonso and Raikkonen but stressed that it was now
time to look after himself, with his priority to secure a competitive race
seat for next year.
“I will not race for Alonso from now on,” Massa said. “Right
from Friday at Singapore I’ll be working for myself. I will attack all the
time, every lap. It’s come the time to look after myself.”
It is impossible to say how much or how little Massa’s attitude might affect
Alonso’s title charge but, to take a recent example, the Brazilian
outqualified the Spaniard at the last race in Italy and was ordered aside
early in proceedings to allow Alonso to close the gap to the leaders.
At that point, of course, Massa was still hopeful that he might be retained by
Ferrari. His inference is that he will no longer be so compliant when it
comes to such demands.
Alonso currently trails Vettel by 53 points in the standings with seven races
remaining. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton is a further 28 points back.
With Red
Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes now having confirmed their 2014 driver
line-ups, and McLaren expected to continue with Jenson Button and Sergio
Perez, driver speculation this weekend is likely to centre on the next most
competitive team on the grid: Lotus.
Massa is hopeful of impressing the Enstone team in the remainder of the season
but it is believed that Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg is currently the preferred
option for Lotus’s second seat alongside Romain Grosjean.
Grosjean has been rather hit-and-miss in his Formula One career to date,
literally so at times, but the Frenchman has raw speed and is seen as
crucial in attempts to persuade Renault and Total to increase their
involvement in the team.