Felipe Massa is not thinking about what might happen to his future in Formula One if he fails to perform this year.

13565 - Massa shrugs off mounting pressure to perform

Massa has struggled to match team-mate Fernando Alonso's pace since the Spaniard joined Ferrari two years ago and he has not won a race since 2008. Earlier this month Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo warned his driver that he "has to do something great, and something special, after a non-positive season".

But when it was put to Massa that this could be a make or break year, he responded: "To be honest I don't care. I start the season in the best way I can to be competitive and do the best I can inside the car and go outside of the car happy with myself.

"To be honest I never drive thinking about my future. I always drive thinking about the best result and thinking about the most important thing which is what I can do on the track. I think when you drive thinking about something else you cannot do your job. So I don't care to be honest."

But when Massa was asked if he could rediscover the form that saw him challenge for the title in 2008, he said it was too early to tell.

"I hope. I think on the test it is very difficult to say. You only know how good the car is when you get to Australia and take part in qualifying and then you're pretty sure how good your car is. We are working to have the best car to fight for the wins and the championship, like we did in 2008.

"I hope we can be like that, but until the first race it is very difficult to know. Last year we were leading many days of testing and then we arrived at the first race and the first qualifying and we were more than a second off. It's really very difficult to say, we wait to Australia and then we will know."