Felipe Massa hoped home advantage would help him in the final round of his Formula One title fight with Lewis Hamilton in Brazil next month after falling further behind the Briton yesterday.
The Ferrari driver finished a distant second behind Hamilton's McLaren at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai yesterday and now trails the championship leader by seven points with only 10 remaining to be won in the season finale.
The 27-year-old Sao Paulo driver, who is chasing his first world title, said he had been well beaten by Hamilton and called on his team to provide him with a more competitive car for Interlagos.
Even then, the title will be out of his hands with 23-year-old Hamilton needing only to finish fifth in Brazil to become the sport's youngest champion.
"For sure we are in a difficult position but we know many things can happen in one race," said Massa, whose teammate Kimi Raikkonen made up a seven-point deficit in Brazil last year to beat Hamilton to the title.
"We just need to keep our head up. It is not finished yet.
"We've got to concentrate on our job and try to win the race and then what happens, happens.
"We're still fighting for the drivers' championship...we're going to everything we can to achieve our target."
Massa has been on pole in Brazil for the past two seasons, winning in 2006 and finishing second last year after allowing Raikkonen to go past and win.
"Always when you play at home you play better," he said. "I've had a very good experience in Brazil in the last two years so hopefully I can repeat and have a great experience again."
"I'm very optimistic, and we need to be, everybody in the team."
Ferrari had won three of the four previous races at the Shanghai circuit before this year and had been expected to be strong again this year.
Hamilton, however, was much quicker all weekend and Massa said it would need a great deal more than wishful thinking to beat him on November 2.
"Hoping is always important but then you need a good car and I think we can have a better car in Brazil than we had today," he said.
"Today it was very difficult to follow this guy and fight with him."
(Agencies via Shanghai Daily October 20, 2008)