Monaco GP - Ferrari - PreviewWith two straight wins, Felipe Massa has hauled himself up towards the front in the title race. Massa has 27 points, three behind championship leader Lewis Hamilton and just one behind last year’s Monaco winner
Fernando Alonso.
Massa
will be aiming to improve on his best result of fifth scored in the Principality while team-mate
Kimi Raikkonen is looking to put Barcelona firmly behind him and get back into the championship stride.
Ferrari are second in the constructors’ standings, nine points behind rivals McLaren Mercedes.
Felipe Massa
"This weekend is kind of like a second home race for me, as Monaco is my European base when I am not in Brazil. Last week, I had a couple of days testing not far from home in Paul Ricard. I think the test went quite well for us. We were concentrating on finding a good set-up for the car when it is running the high downforce configuration that we use at Monaco.”
“Apart from that the main thing was getting an understanding of the two types of tyre we will be using. Honestly, the tyre situation was not so easy to deal with, because over the two days I was testing, I had just a couple of sets of what Bridgestone is calling the ‘super-soft’ and I was unlucky to be caught out in traffic on my first lap on these tyres. This was a shame, as it meant I could not exploit them properly. But we know this tyre is quicker than the other one, so it is not a big problem.”
"I have seen the weather forecast for the weekend and unbelievably, they say there is a chance of rain. Believe it or not, if it does rain, it will be a completely new experience for me, as I have never driven this track in the wet.
But when it rains, it rains on everyone! Of course, Monaco is the sort of track where it is just not permitted to make a mistake and rain always increases the possibility of a mistake. It could make things even more of a lottery than usual, as will the new rules regarding having to use both types of tyre.”
"Of course, my personal target is to win here and that would definitely be better than anything I have managed in Monaco before. My best result here is only a fifth place. Last year I did not have a good weekend. I know that Monaco is a very unique race where there can be a lot of retirements, so the first thing is to try and finish the race."
Kimi Raikkonen“Every time I get into the car my knowledge of the tyres improves. They are really different to the ones I used during the last year. As far I as understand by reading the papers, also Fernando (Alonso) is in a similar situation. The test sessions in France went really well and now I feel even better with the F2007.”
"Obviously we don't know what our competitors have done so we will see things a bit clearer only on Thursday, during the free practice sessions. There are four drivers competing for the top spot in the championship, but there's no particular driver I am concentrated on. I will go to every race with the same attitude: trying to give my best and collecting as many points as possible.”
Source Ferrari
