Massa Not Feeling Extra Pressure

Speaking after his first test with the Maranello outfit at Monza last week, Massa claimed that the need to do well in 2006 is no more than what he has previously faced at Sauber.

"Every year is important: you can build on it or destroy everything," he told Autosprint. "It's not nice if you do badly, but at Sauber I had to show what I was worth year after year."

Massa turned down a three-year offer from BMW to take his chance at Ferrari - even though it means he will have to go head-to-head with Michael Schumacher.

Although Schumacher has number one status at the team, and is still regarded as the benchmark driver in F1, Massa is not scared about being his teammate.

"Two months ago I wasn't imagining anything of what has happened, but now I need to use my head," he said. "Michael is a reference point for everyone in F1.

"You can see he still loves his job after 15 years. At the moment I aim to be competitive and to get as many points as possible for the team."

Massa claims that he will need to modify his driving style a bit to adapt to the Ferrari car - although he has asked for some changes to the way the car handles after his Monza experience. He is unlikely to test again this year, though.

"At the beginning I often locked the front and rear tyres under braking, but it's also down to the set-up," he said. "I used basic settings with several of Michael's changes: I have a fairly aggressive style and I asked to have some details changed."

He added: "The Ferrari is a good car that lets you feel the aerodynamic downforce and is sensitive to set-up changes. However, the one I tried had the aerodynamics adapted from the Canadian GP configuration, so it was certainly not the definitive one for this race."