Charles Leclerc needs to remain "patient" and avoid a public "fight" with Ferrari amid his latest setbacks, according to Felipe Massa. After a strong start to the 2022 season, which saw Leclerc claim victory at two of the first three races, his and Ferrari's efforts have unravelled through a variety of unreliability, questionable strategic calls and occasional driver error. With 13 of 22 races completed, Leclerc is 80 points adrift of Max Verstappen in the Drivers' standings, while Red Bull are almost 100 points clear of Ferrari in the Constructors' battle. But despite this downward spiral, Massa – who raced for Ferrari from 2006 to 2013 – stressed the need for Leclerc and the Scuderia to calmly work through their problems together behind closed doors. He added that letting emotions boil over in the media would only do further harm to their campaign.
Massa: Fighting won't help Leclerc or Ferrari
Asked how he would be feeling in Leclerc's position in an appearance on Sky Sports F1's Any Driven Monday programme, Massa said: "Well, definitely, internally, he's not happy at all. "But you need to be patient. If you start a fight now, it will not help the team, but also Charles. "We cannot forget also that [at the French Grand Prix] he made a mistake that gave away a very good possibility to win the race and score the right amount of points." He continued: "Even if you're not happy for the decisions, for mistakes that are happening, you need to fight in the right way, professionally. "But not showing [those emotions] outside, because if you start to show [them] outside, it's not helping both sides, even if Ferrari made more mistakes here. "[A] fight, especially outside, will not help them."
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