A method to determine the mass of air trapped in each cylinder of an internal combustion engine, which comprises determining, based on a model using measured and/or estimated physical quantities, a value for a first group of reference quantities; determining, based on the model, the actual inner volume of each cylinder as a function of the speed of rotation of the internal combustion engine and of the closing delay angle of the intake valve; and calculating the mass of air trapped in each cylinder as a function of the first group of reference quantities and of the actual inner volume of each cylinder.