At the start of the race at Monza, Massa immediately overtook Jenson Button's McLaren before challenging Lewis Hamilton for the lead. Button re-passed the Ferrari driver, but then had to retire in lap 34, leaving Massa fourth after his team mate Alonso and Sauber's Sergio Perez picked up the final two rostrum placings.
“I’m pleased with this result, even if I’d been hoping to make it to the podium,” Massa said. “We faced higher tyre degradation than we expected, very different to what we had seen on Friday in free practice. It's a shame, because while the tyres were still working, I could match the pace of the McLarens, but then I began to lose the rear end earlier than they did.”
Looking back, the Paulista does not believe that switching his race tactics would have yielded a better result.
Massa continues: “I don’t think a two-stop strategy would have worked. Looking at the data, for us it was definitely slower than a single stop. When the team had no telemetry, we spoke for a long time on the radio and, all in all, we were able to manage the situation in the best way possible.”
Mexican Sauber driver Sergio Perez, who finished the race in second at Monza after overtaking both Alonso and Massa, is believed to replace the Brazilian and race alongside Alonso next season.
“I don’t know if this race changes anything regarding my future, but definitely the most important thing for now is to keep going like this, working with great concentration and trying to do my best for the team,” Massa added.
