Massa: “A podium in Montreal would be fantastic”

I just arrived in Montreal after spending almost a week in Sao Paulo: there is only an hour time difference between the two cities so there are no jet lag issues, which is always a good thing. I had been away from Brazil for a while so I didn't do anything special other than stay at home and see my family and closest friends.

I went back to see the film “Senna”, which was very well received in Brazil, as well as in the rest of the world. I liked it a lot: the director found some previously unpublished images and the film not only describes the most important moments of Ayrton's career but also the entire political situation that had been created around his character. I believe that even those who are not fans of Formula 1 have thought of seeing this film.

Obviously I also dedicated time to training and always kept in touch with the team to find out about the latest developments of the 150° Italia. In the past, when one arrived in Canada the progress of the championship was already quite clear but now, with such a long calendar, nothing can be taken for granted yet. Everyone in Maranello is working hard to try to improve the car in order to allow Fernando and myself to be competitive. In the last few races we have seen that it is possible to fight for the top positions, even if I have not collected anything in terms of points: let's hope that this dark streak ends in Canada.

I like going to Montreal. To be honest, the circuit is not one of my favorites but the city is very beautiful and the people are very welcoming and passionate about Formula 1, with many Ferrari fans always in the stands. My results have never been too positive in this race: the best is fourth place in 2005. In 2008 I was having a good race fighting for the podium but then there was a fueling problem: then I managed to recover from the bottom up to fifth place. It would be nice to improve my record in the Canadian Grand Prix - a podium would be fantastic.

The track presents many interesting challenges and it is not very easy to find the right set-up of the car, also because the asphalt conditions change quickly, starting from an almost total lack of grip in the first tests on Friday morning. Here you need a car that works well on the curbs, that has good traction when exiting slow corners but, being a fast track, you also need good top speed. This is why it is not so easy for pilots and engineers to find the right level of aerodynamic load. I think we will choose a low-load solution that, together with the latest updates, can allow us to be competitive. Furthermore, we must expect quite high tire degradation: even if we have the same tires as in Monaco, I don't think there will be anyone who will risk the single stop. As far as the championship is concerned, we will certainly not give up. It's clear that Sebastian is having an exceptional season: he won five out of six races and came second in the sixth! He and his team are very strong but we try to tackle the championship race by race and everyone is pushing hard to make this car competitive in order to fight until the end of the season.

It will be a very busy weekend for Ferrari. In addition to the Formula 1 Canadian Grand Prix, several private teams will race the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 458 Italia and the 430 in the GT version. This shows how racing really is in Maranello's DNA. Endurance races are completely different from the sprint ones seen in Formula 1: you also race at night and face different challenges and perhaps I will take them into consideration when my Formula 1 career ends. For now we hope that all the Ferraris on track have a successful weekend.