Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa says that the Scuderia need to improve 'many things' if they are to win the world championship in 2023.

F1 hasn't seen a Ferrari driver win the world title since 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen, though Massa did come agonisingly close in 2008 before being pipped at the post by Lewis Hamilton in dramatic style in Brazil.

Since then, the Scuderia have had the likes of Fernando Alonso and Sebastian Vettel also try to bring glory to the team but, ultimately, they've not been able to, with Red Bull and Mercedes proving the dominant forces.

Last year, things started promisingly for the Prancing Horse with Charles Leclerc winning two of the first three races of the season and, naturally, hopes began to grow that this year might be the season where the famous old Italian team finally returned to championship winning ways.

However, things unravelled relatively soon after that good opening, with car reliability, mistakes, and poor strategy calls leaving the door open for Red Bull and Max Verstappen to take both championships.

Ultimately, 2022 was the first year for a while that Ferrari were potential title contenders and so you can perhaps excuse some of the errors, providing that the same mistakes are not made in 2023.

Indeed, that's clearly the thinking of their former driver Massa, who says that a number of things need to be improved upon for them to be champions.

Speaking to Swiat Wyscigow in Poland, Massa said:

“They need to improve the things that are not working – on the strategy but also on many other things.

“They have mechanical issues at the beginning of the season. They had problems in the pit stop; many, many problems in the strategy.

Leclerc, Sainz, Hamilton and Binotto on the podium

BAHRAIN, BAHRAIN - MARCH 20: Race winner Charles Leclerc of Monaco and Ferrari (second from right), Second placed Carlos Sainz of Spain and Ferrari (second from left) Third placed Lewis Hamilton of Great Britain and Mercedes (R) and Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Mattia Binotto (L) celebrate on the podium during the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit on March 20, 2022 in Bahrain, Bahrain. (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

“In the end, to win the championship, everything needs to be perfect.”

Ultimately, time will tell as to whether lessons have been learned from 2022, with Frederic Vasseur now in charge of proceedings at Ferrari.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have both shown they are capable of winning races when the car is right, though, and so if things do fall into place in 2023 perhaps this will finally be the year where they get back to the very top of the tree in F1.


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