Tuesday is D-Day for Massa

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed that he will hold talks with Felipe Massa about the Brazilian’s future on Tuesday…

Ferrari President Luca di Montezemolo has confirmed that he will hold talks with Felipe Massa about the Brazilian’s future on Tuesday.

The 31-year-old’s contract with the Italian stable runs out at the end of this season, but Ferrari look set to retain him for the 2013 campaign following a turnaround in form in recent weeks.

“We have the best team: yesterday too, the work on track was perfect,” di Montezemolo told ferrari.com.

“We also have the best driver in Fernando Alonso and I’m happy to see Felipe Massa back at a high level: tomorrow (Tuesday) I will meet him at Maranello, we will have a chance to talk about his future and then I will take a decision.”

Fernando Alonso’s hopes of winning the World title were dealt a big blow in Korea over the weekend as the Spaniard was only able to finish third behind new Championship leader Sebastian Vettel.

Di Montezemolo concedes Ferrari need to pull up their socks, especially when it comes to qualifying.

“We are a few tenths off the pace of the best, above all in qualifying,” he said. “We must try to have a front-row car because otherwise, starting further back, it makes life much harder and you are at greater risk of getting caught up in accidents. To have a quicker car we must work day and night in a methodical and determined fashion.”

He added: “It’s a very open Championship: a few grands prix ago it was McLaren who seemed unbeatable, now it’s the turn of the Red Bull while we are still up there in the fight. Pay attention as the situation is changing really fast this year.

“Certainly we are left with major regret about the 30-odd points lost with the two accidents in Spa and Suzuka. If we had those today we would still have a 24-point advantage and we would be having a completely different debate.

“But over so many years at Ferrari I have seen everything: World Championships lost at the last minute like we saw with Fernando in 2010 – or even after the finishing line itself, like with Felipe in 2008. But we have also won when no one would ever have imagined it possible, such as Kimi’s title in 2007.”