Felipe Massa reckons latest results have boosted his chances of staying at Ferrari
Felipe Massa believes that his strong performances in the last two races have delivered a big boost to his hopes of staying at Ferrari next season
The Brazilian has nearly doubled his season's points tally with a fifth at Spa and a fourth place in the Italian GP at a time when his Ferrari bosses have demanded he produce results if he is to justify his place there.
Speaking after the Monza race, where he moved aside for Alonso, Massa said: "I think it is definitely very important to get results from these two weeks, and it is important for the future.
"Now is the time to work for next year and that is what I will try to do. The result is very good for the future."
Massa's future has been the subject of speculation all season with a host of drivers - including Sergio Perez, Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg and Kimi Raikkonen - being linked to his seat.
Perez overtook both Massa and Alonso en route to second place in Italy, but the Brazilian denied that was a significant moment in the fight for a 2013 drive.
"No, I don't see it this way," he said. "It was just a normal battle. I think he did a good race and his degradation on his tyre was amazing. If he had started in a better position it would have been possible to win the race today."
Ferrari team principal Stefano Domenicali said that Massa's performance in Italy was exactly as the team expected of him.
"I think that we were very proud of the race of Felipe and [his performance] in qualifying too," explained Domenicali. "He is a great driver and you know how personally I am really behind him.
"So he is performing this weekend as we wanted, and there is no change to accelerate or decelerate the process [of deciding the 2013 driver line-up]. We are talking together and we will keep you informed of course."
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About this article
| Series | Formula 1 |
| Drivers | Felipe Massa |
| Teams | Ferrari |
| Author | Edd Straw |
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