Massa believes Ferrari are "struggling" to cope

Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa believes that Scuderia have struggled to handle the pressure of winning a title again and that explains their poor recent form.

Ferrari, at one stage, had the clear faster car and were pushing Mercedes - in an enthralling, tight title race.

However, many individual errors from Sebastian Vettel has not only gifted the Constructors' title to Mercedes, but the Drivers' standings now show a dominant Lewis Hamilton; who could win the whole thing on Sunday.

Hamilton will become world champion for a fifth time (and win it for two consecutive years) if he is first to the chequered flag in Austin and Vettel can't manage anything above third place.

Massa (Ferrari 2006-13) believes the pressure on Ferrari to end their title drought has ultimately paid its toll and the pressure was too much for Scuderia.

"We won the championship in 2007, and then after 2008, Ferrari started to have some issues - they never won again," Massa explained to Motorsport.com. "Maybe I left Ferrari in 2013 the feeling similar to what they have now.

"Pressure to win, and they are struggling to keep the pressure down. They are struggling to do their job in an efficient way. I think definitely this year - although I am not saying they have lost the championship yet - but maybe they lost the battle at the end because of some mistakes, and maybe because they are feeling the pressure in a higher way compared to Mercedes which had a lot less pressure.

"Mercedes won the past four years. It makes it much easier to work with a title in your hands, compared to working where you need to win, and the chance to make mistakes is higher," the former Scuderia driver concluded.