Vettel came out on top, giving Ferrari their first pole position since 2012 with a masterful lap around the floodlit Singaporean track.
Fernando Alonso seized a longed-for victory in his first Italian Grand Prix for Ferrari on Sunday while Lewis Hamilton lasted less than a lap and handed the championship lead back to Australian Mark Webber.
Massa, who failed to score after a bungled pitstop, claims the race should have been cancelled because the sport's leaders allegedly knew before the end of the 2008 season what had happened but covered it up.
The Ferrari world champions said on Thursday he had no explanation for the run of four races without a point that has wrecked his title defence.
Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone said earlier in the year that the circuit near Bologna, which is looking for government funding to upgrade the facilities, would be making its final appearance on the calendar this season.
Ferrari's times were eye-catching, and quicker than anything from last year's weather-affected first four-day test at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Ferrari dealt Fernando Alonso a rare public rebuke on his 32nd birthday on Monday for critical comments after Sunday's Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix.
Ferrari's record-breaking season may go down in the Formula One history books as the peak of Michael Schumacher's career.
Magny-Cours marked the turning point of the Finn's season last year and he needs another French Grand Prix win on Sunday after slipping to fourth place overall.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso scored a dramatic victory in the Malaysian Grand Prix on Sunday when the Spaniard denied Sauber's Sergio Perez a first Formula One victory in a race turned on its head by the weather.
Ferrari's new team principal Marco Mattiacci was taken by surprise when Luca di Montezemolo offered him the top job at Formula One's glamour team, the Italian initially believing the chairman's approach to be a joke.
And have also offered him an immediate opt-out clause if he wins another Formula One title.
Formula One's governing body hoped radical new rules would shake up the sport this year and, more emphatically than anyone could imagine, it has got what it wished for. The season-ending 2008 Brazilian Grand Prix, with the two Ferrari drivers standing on the podium and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton crowned world champion, looks like something from another era.
Ferrari showed impressive pace during pre-season testing and are considered the team most likely to dethrone Mercedes.
Kimi Raikkonen will race for Ferrari next season after agreeing a two-year deal that takes the 2007 Formula One World champion back to the glamour team he left in 2009.
The Finn made a triumphant start to his Ferrari career with a pole-to-flag victory in the season-opening Formula One race.
Driver line-ups and race numbers for the 2006 season after the governing International\nAutomobile Federation issued the official entry list.
Formula One's governing body put Ferrari, the sport's most successful team, in the spotlight along with Mercedes on Friday in an investigation into alleged breaches of the testing regulations.
The Dutchman's run of nine successive wins was snapped as he broke down on lap four with a brake problem.
Michael Schumacher's long-term manager has slammed claims about the Formula One legend's recovery, describing the reports as 'irresponsible' for providing 'false hope'.
The Finn drove Ferrari's 2007 car for the first time in Valencia on Tuesday.
The Brazilian said he would never forget the team's support for him after his near-fatal head injury at the 2009 Hungarian Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton has recognized that he is about as likely to drive for Ferrari in the next five years as he is to have the Spanish Grand Prix crowd cheering him on against Fernando Alonso.
McLaren accepted an unprecedented $100 million fine and loss of all their 2007 constructors' points.
Kimi Raikkonen took pole position on an all-Ferrari front row for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Ferrari's Formula One title contender Kimi Raikkonen escaped injury when he crashed at high speed in Saturday's final practice for his team's home Italian Grand Prix.
Ferrari removed a controversial bar code livery from their Formula One cars on Thursday after suggestions that it represented subliminal advertising for cigarette sponsor Marlboro.
His Brazilian team mate Felipe Massa joins him on the front row while Briton Jenson Button, in a Honda, and Renault's world champion Fernando Alonso line up together on the second row.
The 39-year-old German will test Ferrari's 2008 car in Spain next week along with reigning F1 champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Lewis Hamilton survived another first corner clash with Mercedes teammate Nico Rosberg on Sunday to take a fifth Canadian Grand Prix victory and cut the German's championship lead to nine points.
Spain's Fernando Alonso won the British Grand Prix on Sunday for Ferrari's first victory of the season on the 60th anniversary of their first success in Formula One.
Seven times world champion Michael Schumacher completed just five laps but still boasted the second fastest time of one minute 32.120 seconds.
Ford Motor Co sued luxury automaker Ferrari on Wednesday for trademark infringement after Ferrari named its 2011 Formula 1 racing car the "F150."
Ferrari were already feeling the frustration and Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix added a measure of embarrassment to the mix for Formula One's most successful and glamorous team.
The sport's oldest and most successful team are hoping the car, with more red and less white in the livery following the departure of sponsor Santander, will take them to a first championship in a decade.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso roared to victory in the Chinese Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday, making amends for crashing out of the previous race in Malaysia.
Max Verstappen celebrated a record 10th win in a row by leading Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez one-two at Ferrari's home Italian Grand Prix
Barrichello took the chequered flag for the first time since last season's final race in Japan, a mere 1.3 seconds ahead of team mate Michael Schumacher.
