Ferrari president Luca di Montezemolo has suggested that he expects "great things" from Felipe Massa in the 2012 Formula One season, though admits that next year will be about the Brazilian 'proving himself' to the team.
Massa has endured a pair of difficult seasons with Ferrari since being paired with double world champion Fernando Alonso at the start of 2010.The team has had a trying 2011 season, and Massa is set to become the first full-season Ferrari driver to fail to score a podium since Ivan Capelli in 1992.
And with Massa having scored less than half of Alonso's points so far in 2011, di Montezemolo has suggested that the Brazilian will have to improve to keep his place in the team.
"Massa's contract will run for the whole of next season," the Ferrari chief told La Gazzetta dello Sport this week.
"He's been with us for quite a few years and even if he didn't have such a great season or much luck, we can't question the ability of a driver who was winning the title three years ago and who has always been fast and competitive."
He added: "Let's hope he can finish the season with a good result in Brazil, we expect great things from him in 2012 and then we'll decide how to proceed.
"Let's say he'll have to prove himself next season."
As for the team's 2011 season overall, di Montezemolo admitted that it was a poor one, crippled by the team's poor planning for the new regulations.
"A mark out of ten for our season? I'd give a 5 which I'll raise to 6 considering the effort and the victory at Silverstone exactly 60 years after Ferrari's first win in F1," he rambled.
"But the season started badly, we didn't interpret the regulations well and we didn't take risks in the technology of our project."
Massa himself has said that he is aware that 2012 will be a "crucial" season for his Formula One career, but said that he was confident that he could return to winning ways.
"I well know that next year is crucial for me," he wrote in his latest missive for the official Ferrari website.
"I will have to do better and return to normality, which means getting back to winning and fighting for the championship. I've always believed in my work and my potential. I know that things will change and all this will happen."
As for 2011 as a whole, he added: "There have been races where I could have made the podium but circumstances always conspired to prevent it.
"But that's how the season has gone and I have to accept it. Now I'm totally focused on doing the best possible job in 2012.
"The team is also doing the same because it will be essential to have a competitive car from the beginning of the year and I'm part of this preparatory work."
Massa currently sits in sixth place in the championship, having scored just 108 points to Alonso's 245.
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