• Young Driver Test - Day 3

Massa not feeling the pressure at Ferrari

Felipe Massa ran on Friday morning at the Young Driver Test © Sutton Images

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Felipe Massa says he's not feeling under pressure to secure his seat at Ferrari despite recent poor races.

With an unconvincing first half of 2012 giving way to an improved second half of the season Massa was handed a new one-year deal by Ferrari. This season Massa started strongly but driver errors in Monaco, Canada and Germany have seen him score just 12 points in the last four races and once again his performances are coming under scrutiny.

However, after completing a morning of tyre testing for Ferrari at the Young Driver Test, Massa said he knows what is required to secure his future.

"I know what I have to do, I just concentrate on doing a good result," Massa said. "The pace is there so I'm not worried about the pace; I showed in most of the races to be honest the pace. Things have happened not to finish the race and we need to concentrate and try to keep the pace and just finish the race. I know if nothing strange happens I will finish in a good position.

"I know I need to improve my consistency a little bit more to just finish the race. Also I was not very lucky [at Silverstone] in the race with the tyres, in Bahrain with the tyres, and also myself just trying to finish the race in a consistent way."

Asked for his opinion on the new tyres Pirelli is supplying from Hungary onwards, Massa said they feel similar to those used at the Nurburgring.

"It's different compared to the tyre we were using two races ago, but I think it's more or less in the direction of the last race. At the last race we had already got the Kevlar construction so the tyre is a little more consistent. We could see here that the consistency on the long run is a lot better than in the race in Silverstone, I think the tyres work in a lower temperature so it makes the car more consistent."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.