The Mexican is a member of the Ferrari driver academy, whose head Luca Baldisserri told the team website (www.ferrari.com) that he had talked to Perez before the 22-year-old finished third in Montreal at the weekend.  

That was Perez’s second podium finish in seven races, the other being second place in Malaysia in March, for Ferrari-powered Sauber.  

“After Monaco we had a discussion with Sergio,” said Baldisserri, a former strategist and past race engineer to seven-times world champion Michael Schumacher.  

“We wanted to find out why recent results had not lived up to expectations after the Malaysian Grand Prix.  

“Perez is undoubtedly talented but he often lets himself down by being too aggressive which, especially in Formula One, does not deliver results,” added the Italian.  

“The Montreal race was a great response, a race in which Sergio not only ran at a great pace, but also managed his race very well, managing to stay on track for 50 laps on the same set of tyres.”  

Perez also overtook Ferrari’s double world champion Fernando Alonso, who ended up fifth and lost the overall championship lead, in the closing laps.  

Between Malaysia and Canada, Perez had failed to score any points with three 11th places and a retirement.  

Massa paid the price for an early spin and finished 10th in Canada, with the Brazilian still looking a long way off his first podium finish since 2010. He is out of contract at the end of the season.  

Di Montezemolo told Reuters this month that Perez needed more experience and more good results before he could be put in a Ferrari.