Pressure Hurting Ferrari – Massa

Ex-Formula 1 driver Felipe Massa says huge expectation levels have been hurting Ferrari for a decade.

Ferrari have won a record 16 constructors’ championships – seven more than Williams in second – but they have been forced to watch on over recent years with the likes of Red Bull and now Mercedes taking centre stage.

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The Scuderia last lifted the team trophy in 2008 and Massa, who brought his F1 career to an end last year, believes the history of the Italian outfit and pressure to succeed has had an adverse effect on results.

“A lot of things happen in a difficult way inside Ferrari in terms of pressure,” he told Autosport. “They feel this a lot. The inside of the team was always like this.

There was a time that they felt less because they had more results, in the time of Jean Todt. “Jean was a guy who had great leadership in every area of the team.

He could put an area working together with the other ones without any pressure. After this, things happened in a very different way. “Ferrari now is always feeling the pressure and the obligation to win, and this is a problem.”