Italian GP: Felipe Massa admits he has a vital chance to impress Ferrari after qualifying third

The Ferrari driver took his best qualifying result of what has been a challenging season at Monza, outqualifying his team-mate Fernando Alonso for the first time this year.

Now he says the pressure is on to perform during what is the most important race of the season for Ferrari.

"I think I know the pressure I have," Massa said.

"You always have a lot of pressure, and just need to concentrate on the race. It is an important race tomorrow for me and the team; let's concentrate on that. When you race for Ferrari you have a lot of pressure."

Despite being outqualified by both McLarens, Massa refused to rule out taking his first race win since Brazil in 2008, and his first Formula 1 win at Monza.

"We go to the grid to think about victory and doing maximum we can in the race," he said.

"[McLaren] are strong and quick; we know how different the race is compared to qualifying so I'll do everything I can.

"I am happy with the car. I am very happy with the performance and concentrated for the race.

"Unfortunately I've never won here in F1, but I'm always doing good races in F1. I enjoy it a lot, I lived close by when I did Formula Renault.

"I hope we have fantastic race tomorrow."