I think the problem is really that Ferrari took him on in the first place. At the start of his F1 career he was wild and inconsistent, and lots of people questioned it. The only excuse probably they wanted a number 2 to Michael Schumacher. But he did improve and that was probably down to coaching by MSC and Rob. We have all heard Rob’s comments, the most recent when he told Massa not to brake into a corner.
People are going to say, but Massa has won races and was almost WDC in 2008. Well look at the facts, how many races has he won when not on the front row? 0 and how many races has he won since MSC came out of retirement? 0
Therefore when you look at it, it seems Massa needs lots on coaching to produce results and all that coaching after so many years hasn’t stuck and has to still continue from his engineer. To be honest, I am very surprised he kept his seat at the end of last season.
And in Italy F1 is Ferrari and if they don’t perform the press will complain loud and long and not in very gentlemanly terms. So it’s not very surprising that these comments have been made. In fact they were to be expected.
If Massa doesn’t improve then I expect he or someone at the top will go soon.