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Felipe Massa has no doubts that he has the potential to become the season's eighth winner following his improved form in recent races.

The Brazilian showed good pace in both Monaco, where he finished a strong sixth, and Canada, where he was 10th after a spin, and believes that he is a contender to take his first victory since his home grand prix in 2008.

His confidence has been boosted by a chance in set-up direction in recent races, as well as the improvement of the Ferrari F2012.

"Many drivers have possibilities of victory and I would put myself inside [that group]," said Massa when asked by AUTOSPORT about his chances of becoming the eighth winner of 2012.

"If you look at how the races are and how things change with the strategies and everything, there are many possibilities."

Massa admitted that he has been happy to hear positive comments from the likes of Bernie Ecclestone, Fernando Alonso and Stefano Domenicali.

The 31-year-old has been under fire for much of the season and hasn't finished on the podium since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, but has no doubts that he can still deliver.

"It's always much better to receive positive things from people who understand more about driving," said Massa.

"People know what I am capable of doing and I 100 per cent know what I am capable of, so I do think this is positive. I have already seen some changes since two or three races ago."

Massa added that he plans to continue working on his own set-up direction rather than returning to team-mate Alonso's approach.

"It's much better to work in a direction that gets the better result, so we will carry on like that," said Massa when asked about whether this will continue.