Felipe Massa has defended Mattia Binotto's credentials as Ferrari's team boss, though thinks changes are needed at the Scuderia following their latest setbacks. After building up an early lead in both championships, Ferrari have been overhauled by Red Bull due to a mixture of unreliability, strategic blunders and driver errors. With nine races remaining, Max Verstappen leads Charles Leclerc by 80 points in the Drivers' standings, while Red Bull are almost 100 clear of Ferrari in the Constructors' battle. Ferrari also came in for particularly heavy criticism at the Hungarian Grand Prix over their decision to put Hard tyres on Leclerc's car, which the Monegasque labelled as a "disaster" .
Massa praises "very professional" Binotto
In an appearance on Sky Sports F1's Any Driven Monday programme, Massa was asked for his thoughts on Binotto's reign and whether he would want to race for him. "I know him very well. I raced for him already and we worked together for a very long time," commented Massa, who represented Ferrari from 2006 to 2013, as Binotto climbed the ranks at the team. "He was an engineer of the engines and then he became the boss of the engine side. When he [became] the Technical Director, and also Team Principal, I was not there anymore. But he's a very good engineer. "He's a very professional guy. He understands a lot on the technical side. He's also a good guy, to be honest. I like him as a person as well."
Massa reckons changes are needed at Ferrari
However, alluding to strategic mistakes made earlier in the season "still happening", Massa thinks a review is needed at Maranello. "At the end, you understand that the result is not coming the way it should," he continued. "We cannot definitely blame [Binotto], but at the end, we need to say that he's part of it. "They definitely need to be a little bit more calm for the decisions and understand what is not happening, because many mistakes that happened at the beginning of the season in terms of strategy are still happening. This is something that cannot [happen]. "He needs to change things in a quick way, otherwise he can pay for it."
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