Ferrari, Massa: “In Monza I want to see our fans from the podium”

After the Belgian Grand Prix, after spending some time at the company to take part in some meetings and work on the simulator, I returned home to Monaco. Today I returned to Maranello to take part in a promotional event and the world premiere of the 458 Spider, before embarking on the short journey to Monza, home of the Italian Grand Prix. I can't wait for this weekend, needless to say.

My first time at the Italian Grand Prix was in 2000, with Formula Renault. Today I now feel Italy as my country, partly due to my origins, because my grandfather was born in the South of the Peninsula and my family has always followed Italian traditions even in Brazil. This made my move to Italy natural to continue my career and realize my dream of becoming a Formula 1 driver. I remember when everyone told me to go racing in England, otherwise I would never have become a Formula 1 driver But I chose a different path, to seek my way in Italy. And today I think it was the right choice, because I not only became a Formula 1 driver, but a Ferrari Formula 1 driver! Italy is a country that I love and where I like to go, especially for the Grand Prix. As well as being an important place in my life, the fact that this is the home race for my team makes Monza a truly special event.

I still remember my first time in Monza: I took part in two races in Formula Renault, one on Saturday for the Italian series and one on Sunday for the European Championship, winning both. That wasn't my first race in Italy: the first was at Mugello and I won there too. When I came to Italy for the first time I lived for a year in Erba, near Monza, to be close to the team I was racing for, living in the house of the team manager. This is why this represents the second home race for me, with a paddock where I meet many people who are part of my past.

Returning to current events, this is a really important weekend for us, and not because it represents the last chance to change things, but to be able to give ourselves, the team and above all the fans a great result. Spa wasn't a fantastic experience and the cold temperatures accentuated the problem we have with the tyres: for this weekend we will have the same sets available but we are hoping for milder temperatures. We will need a car with good top speed. Like the other teams we will have a specific set up for Monza with low downforce, with small wings, and in free practice we will have to make sure we have a well balanced car with good traction that allows us to quickly exit the slow chicanes and tackle the curbs, factors vital for doing a fast lap especially in qualifying.

As for the race I think we will see a lot of overtaking, as we are on a high speed track with two places where DRS can be used. I'm not saying that it's an advantage to be behind your opponent when you enter the Parabolica, to overtake him on the last lap, because if you have a good car probably the best strategy is to pass him first in order to establish a gap greater than a second. However, if you fight until the last lap, and this could be the case, the race would be extremely exciting. At this point in the season it is not difficult to predict that Scuderia Ferrari, McLaren and obviously Red Bull will be the main contenders. However, Mercedes also demonstrated that it perhaps has the best top speed on the straight, which matters a lot on this circuit and could influence the outcome of the race.

Monza is the last racing weekend in Europe and since this season hasn't been too positive for us it will be even more important to do our job perfectly and try to get that result that we and all the fans want and deserve. For my part, I can't wait to cross the historic entrances of the Monza Park on Thursday morning and start riding on Friday, trying to achieve more than last year's third place. Watching the crowd of fans standing on that incredible podium suspended over the pit lane is a fantastic emotion that I want to repeat on Sunday.