Massa improves Ferrari chances

Felipe Massa looks set to stay with Ferrari after continuing his resurgence with fourth place at the Korean Grand Prix.

The Brazilian was thought to be heading for the exit door at Maranello after a poor first half to the season, with Mark Webber being strongly tipped to take his seat before the Australian re-signed with Red Bull. But the 31-year-old has performed strongly since the Belgian Grand Prix, and took his first podium in almost two years at the Japanese Grand Prix.

When asked if Massa would remain with Ferrari in 2013, team principal Stefano Domenicali said: "You will know what will be our situation on that very soon."

He added: "I am very happy [with Felipe]. He did an excellent race and qualifying, but he has done an excellent job over the last couple of races and this is very promising for the end of the season.

"I think he is understanding the car better, understanding the tyres better.

"Felipe we believe is a very strong driver, otherwise we would already have taken a different decision [for 2013], and now Felipe has the understanding of the car and the tyres under his control, he is performing at the level he should."

Meanwhile, Sebastian Vettel's win in Korea meant Alonso's third place was not enough to prevent him losing the lead of the championship.

He now trails the Red Bull driver by six points with just four races remaining.

Ferrari may not have been able to match Red Bull, but the Maranello outfit appeared to have taken a step forward as they were much improved in qualifying and typically competitive during the race.

"We are always on the limit, but we feel comfortable like this," Alonso said. "We seem to extract the maximum from the car when we are under pressure and there are four beautiful races to come with good possibilities for us to fight for the championship."