Former Ferrari driver Mika Salo had some harsh words to say about the team's performance this season. He claimed that the Italian outfit doesn't deserve to win the title in 2022.
Ferrari started the season strong, but as time progressed, the team faltered far too many times and conceded too many points to Red Bull and Max Verstappen.
Speaking to the media, Salo said that while the team certainly has a lot of pressure on it, so do the other teams on the grid, making the Italians' performances inexcusable.
"There is certainly a lot of pressure on the team, but that applies to any team. The management is always under pressure to perform, and of course, in Italy, they have strong opinions and the squad has also changed the team management several times. I think Mattia did a really good job of bringing Ferrari back to the top. It is just small things they need to fix."
The Finnish driver hopes that the Prancing Horse can solve its general performance issues as it would make the title fight all the more interesting.
"It would be nice if they suddenly solved all [their] problems after the summer break, because we all want to see exciting races and an exciting title fight. And also, with Mercedes there, they also fight for the victories."
The Ferrari has blistering pace, but something always goes wrong!
Mika Salo gave the Italian outfit the props it deserves for producing arguably the fastest car on the grid at the moment. However, he continued to reference their mechanical and strategic unreliability.
He said:
"The Ferrari is certainly very fast, but something always goes wrong. I don't know what it is. Sometimes the drivers make mistakes, sometimes the team again. You don't win world titles in this way."
Despite being a former driver with the team, Salo conceded that he had no idea what was the reason behind these problems. Nonetheless, he hopes that the team would find a way out of this hole.
"It's hard to say what causes these problems. I'm too much of an outsider for that. But I do believe that something goes wrong every time. It's a very difficult situation, but I am sure they will thoroughly investigate, analyse and solve this."
Charles Leclerc is currently 80 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship with just nine races left in the season.