Felipe Massa believes Kimi Raikkonen is feeling the pressure at Ferrari with his grand prix career hanging in the balance.
Raikkonen, the 2007 world champion, is out of contract at the end of the current campaign, and it remains unclear whether Ferrari will hand him an extension.
Williams driver Valtteri Bottas and Daniel Ricciardo of Red Bull have both been linked with his seat.
And Massa, who raced for Ferrari between 2006 and 2013 before he joined Williams, believes the uncertainty over Raikkonen's future is getting to the normally ice-cool Finn.
"Like everybody says, 'the Iceman', he's not really like that," said Massa. " Definitely, he's suffering more with the pressure than other things."
Raikkonen is 48 points adrift of his Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel, and has been on the podium only once this season. Last time out in Austria, his race lasted less than a minute after he crashed and retired on the opening lap.
"For sure, he can suffer as well with the pressure and he's shown that in some results", Massa said.
"So he just needs to relax and do his best, because he's definitely a big talent and can do a lot better than what he's doing."
Massa almost won the championship with Ferrari in 2008, but his eight-year relationship with the Italian team fizzled out with little more than a whimper.
"Ferrari is a big company, so every day you are in the media, for good or for bad," Massa, who finished third at the Austrian Grand Prix, added.
"Sometimes this is not helping the driver. Sometimes this is not helping even the team to control the driver in the best way as well.
"But we know that Ferrari is one of the biggest teams, so definitely you have a lot more pressure than maybe in another team."
Bottas, 25, is among the frontrunners to take Raikkonen's seat, but Massa believes his team-mate could yet stay at Williams.
"He is one of the most important names on the market now, but we cannot forget that he has an option to stay here.
"He has shown that he is a good driver and has the talent to drive in a good team, and that is why all the teams are interested in getting him, but I don't know if he is going or not."
Source: PA
