Massa no longer in running for drivers' title?

Ferrari's Felipe Massa has said that he is 'very disappointed' that he had to retire from the Italian Grand Prix on Sunday.

Massa had been running third and right up there challenging Lewis Hamilton for second, when a problem with the rear suspension on his F2007 ended his event prematurely on lap 10.

The Brazilian was not at all pleased, especially as he now loses further ground in the battle for the drivers' championship - 23 points behind Lewis Hamilton with just four races left to run and a maximum 40 points up for grabs.

In all likelihood then he is now out of contention, especially as Ferrari may opt to put all their efforts behind his team-mate, Kimi Raikkonen, who is that bit closer, only 18 points adrift.

"I am very disappointed. It's horrible to see your chances go in the early stages because of a reliability problem," said Massa.

"There was something not working with the rear suspension: coming into Ascari I could feel a problem under braking and came into the pits, thinking it might be due to a puncture. However, once the tyres were changed that was still not driveable and I had to retire.

"We must tackle the coming races with the same spirit. Here we were competitive and I think that will be the same in the near future. This is very disappointing but these things happen in racing."

The Scuderia meanwhile have revealed that they are not sure yet what caused the problem with Massa's car - either way though, they weren't pleased, even if Raikkonen did get a consolation third.

"We are very disappointed and there is no use in denying it," added Ferrari technical director, Luca Baldisserri. "We tried to change things around by putting Kimi on a different strategy, but in general we were not quick enough.

"Felipe was unable to show what he might have done, forced to retire after just a handful of laps because of a mechanical problem on the rear suspension, the causes of which we now have to find.

"It is very disappointing not to have given our fans and our colleagues who were in Monza today what they wanted.

"We hope to turn things around in the next races, starting with the Belgian Grand Prix next week."