Massa taking a relaxed approach to Chinese Grand Prix weekend

Despite Ferrari's insistence that it has every confidence in the Brazilian, there continue to be question marks over whether he will be replaced after a poor start to the season.

When asked whether he had taken his friend, and former rival, Rubens Barrichello's advice to "enjoy himself", Massa said that he would be doing so after spending several day since the Malaysian Grand Prix trying to understand his early-season struggles.

"Yes," he said when asked about taking Barrichello's advice. "That's the direction. I spent many days at Maranello understanding and analysing everything that happened in the last race.

"You need to relax to do your job in the best way that you can and enjoy it while you are doing it. We race because we love to race and we enjoy it.

"We are definitely starting a better season compared to the first two races. It's not the first time that this [a bad start] has happened to me. We just need to work and have the best weekend to get out of the car happy."

Massa admitted that Ferrari expects to struggle again in China.

This is despite the team bringing some car upgrades that should at least improve its pace.

"We worked to bring some pieces to this race," said Massa. "We are still not going in the direction that we want, even with these new pieces, but we are working hard to have the improvement on the car that we need and want.

"The most important thing is the confidence to do a better job on the track that the car can give to you. Hopefully it will be a better weekend."