Italian GP - Ferrari - PreviewFerrari are gearing up for their biggest race of the season, the Italian Grand Prix. With just five races to go, Felipe Massa and
Kimi Raikkonen need nothing less than straight one-two results if they are to challenge for the drivers' championship.
Lewis Hamilton currently leads the championship with 84 points, five ahead of McLaren team-mate
Fernando Alonso, 15 ahead of Massa who in turn is one point ahead of Raikkonen.
For the team, the constructors' championship is a closer affair as they trail McLaren by just 11 points - pending an appeal from McLaren with regards to the Hungarian loss loss.
Felipe Massa
"This Championship is pretty competitive - four drivers are fighting for the title, so I have to make sure I can be more competitive than the others; try to do the maximum and stay competitive until the end of the season. At the moment, all four of us at the top of the Drivers' championship have each won three races and it is quite possible that at the end of the season, I might have won more races than the others and still not be champion and it is also true for the other three drivers. We know that victory on its own is not enough and we have to be consistent throughout the year which has not always been the case for us this season. But we still have five races to go."
Kimi Raikkonen"It's a fact that what we drivers like most is racing: that's our passion. That's why I am a bit anxious about the next two races, at Monza and Spa-Francorchamps.
I had the same feeling before the back-to-back races at Magny-Cours and Silverstone last July. Well, having seen how it went there, I hope this is a good sign! I'll race at Monza for the first time with a Ferrari and it will be really special to feel the heat of the tifosi: I can't wait to see all the flags with the Prancing Horse on the grandstands. I always liked the atmosphere at this track. Already during the test many fans came to see us there and it's good to know that you can rely on their support. This is a very special track from the technical point of view; it's different from all the others. You need good aerodynamics, so you remain stable over the curbs, to be quick; but you also need a great engine, as you give it all for most of the lap."
"Traditionally Ferrari has been very competitive here, but also McLaren has been very strong, during the years when I raced for them, but for some reason or another I never managed to win. Let's hope we can make it this time, by being perfect from Friday morning to Sunday afternoon. Winning the home race of Ferrari would be a great feeling. I think you can say that we have a fierce fight ahead of us; but you never know how much fuel the others use during the tests, so we'll only see during the qualifying what the situation is really like."
Luca Baldisserri, Head of Race Track Engineering
"Monza was new to me when I joined Ferrari as in my younger days I was always trying to jump over the fence to get into Imola which was my home track. I have been with Ferrari since 1989 and I think I started attending the Italian Grand Prix every year apart from that first one. Until last year, Monza was one of two home races for us in Italy, whereas this year, without the appointment at Imola, it is the only one. That means we can expect more pressure than usual, as there is only one chance to get a good result at home."
Source AFP / Ferrari
