Massa eases Nando tension

London, Oct. 16 (ANI): Brazilian race car driver Felipe Massa as backtracked on comments made about Fernando Alonso after claiming his future Ferrari team-mate knew about Formula One' race-fixing scandal.

According to The Sun, Massa claimed the Spaniard was aware of the plot that saw Nelson Piquet Junior deliberately crash his Renault in last year's Singapore Grand Prix, which helped him claim victory.

Massa has now moved to calm the growing tension between him and Alonso, who recently signed a three-year deal with Ferrari.

Massa, 28, was quoted as having said: "It was the team and Nelson, but Alonso was part of the problem. He knew. We cannot know it, but of course he knew. Absolute certainty."

Alonso insists he was completely unaware of the plan and was cleared by the FIA, who handed Renault a suspended two-year ban from F1.

The incident resulted in Flavio Briatore and Pat Symonds resigning from their positions as team principal and executive director of engineering respectively. (ANI)