MONACO, May 21, 2008 (AFP) - Brazilian Felipe Massa has insisted that he will not be left on the sidelines in this weekend´s Monaco Grand Prix.

The glamorous race on the Mediterranean street circuit is expected to be a duel between Ferrari´s defending world champion Finn Kimi Raikkonen and McLaren´s young pretender Briton Lewis Hamilton.

But Massa has said he is ready to impress this year on a circuit where in the past he has been noted more for his errors than his clean driving.

"I have to admit that this is not one of my favourite circuits," he said.

"In terms of driving pleasure, I prefer the fast flowing places like Turkey, Bahrain and Barcelona for example.

"But that does not mean we cannot be strong here. We will prepare as well as possible and try and bring home as many points as possible. I am confident I will be a force in this race.

"You always find tracks you like more than others, but this does not mean you cannot be competitive at those you are not so keen on."

The Brazilian has been accused of only being able to win on a handful of circuits including his favourites like Sakhir, in Bahrain, Interlagos in Brazil, and Istanbul Park, where he claimed his third consecutive victory in the last race.

Until he finished a well-beaten third last year in Monaco, Massa had made several major mistakes on the barrier-lined track.

He added: "I think we are in better shape here than we were a year ago. It will not be an easy race this weekend and we can expect McLaren to be strong as usual, although I think we can be on the pace too.

"But we have to wait and see what happens on Thursday because it is difficult to say what we can expect from ourselves and the opposition.

"Monaco is unique and impossible to recreate exactly the same track characteristics, so there are some unknown factors going into the weekend.

"But I am not worried. I believe in myself. I can win here or at least do very well so we will see."