Felipe Massa says he only feels pressure from himself, not Ferrari

With Ferrari chiefs keen to see Massa prove his critics wrong and rediscover the kind of form that helped him fight for the championship back in 2008, the Brazilian is aware of how key next season is for his long-term future.

But he insists that he is not feeling any weight of expectation from his bosses, and that he knows within himself that he must do better.

"The pressure is from my side," he explained. "I put a lot of pressure on my side, so I think I care a lot more for my pressure than the pressure from the others.

"You always have pressure in F1, in big teams like Ferrari, so I just care more about my pressure and know I need to do more."

Massa said that the fact he failed to score a podium this year was of no real significance, because he knew that this season he had not delivered all that he was capable of.

"For sure, it is not positive, but I am also one of the Ferrari drivers who has most podiums as well," he said. "So it is not as if I never had a podium and never was able to fight for victories. I had 11 victories and many podiums."