Zoom Pressure points for Massa

A year ago, Felipe Massa also arrived in Bahrain without having opened his championship points account.

The Ferrari driver won the 2008 event, as he did the season before, but this time around he will not tackle the Sakhir curves amid a points crisis with a top car at his disposal.

If the Italian team departs the island Kingdom still pointless, it will be Ferrari's worst opening four races in the history of the Scuderia.

But Massa, 27, told reporters on Thursday that the pressure is not mounting on his own shoulders if he compares the situation to last year.

Bahrain was round three of the championship in 2008, and Massa's outings in Malaysia and Australia had been littered with driving errors.

"Nobody is talking about my future (now), that's the only difference," the Brazilian admitted in Bahrain, comparing his current situation to a year ago.

"But the pressure is there," he added. "We need to get away from this difficult moment. "

Teammate Kimi Raikkonen agrees that the situation is dire.

"We don't have the speed right now in the car unfortunately," said the Finn on Thursday. "We are going to get some new parts at the next race but this race probably can be a bit difficult."

Nonetheless, Raikkonen is holding on to a bit of optimism ahead of this Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix.

"Of course we are not in the position we were the last few years right now, but I still think we should have a better chance here than maybe at some previous races," he expected.

D.B. © CAPSIS International
Source: GMM