Felipe Massa has insisted that Williams enjoyed a promising qualifying session ahead of Sunday's Singapore Grand Prix, despite starting further down the grid than he did in Monza.

The Brazilian, who finished on the podium in Italy a fortnight ago, will start from sixth on the grid at Marina Bay, but Massa remains optimistic about what he can achieve in the race.

He told reporters: "This has been a promising qualifying for us because we have made big improvements compared to yesterday and we are in the mix with the teams around us in the championship.

"Top four may have been possible, especially considering how tight it is, but sixth is a solid result. What is really encouraging is that we identified the problem we had yesterday and the changes we made improved the car as we expected so a really good job by the team.

"Tomorrow will be tough. This is the longest race of the season, the conditions are challenging, and there can be safety cars so our first thought is to get both cars home in the points."

Massa is currently 67 points behind teammate Valtteri Bottas in the drivers' rankings.