If Ferrari fails to win a title in the next few years it will be "a tragedy", according to chairman Sergio Marchionne.
Ferrari has not won a drivers' title since 2007 and not won a constructors' championship since 2008. The longest championship drought in the team's history was between constructors' titles in 1983 and 1999, but even though the current losing streak is shorter Marchionne is concerned it is damaging the brand.
"If we were to string together victories in F1 then it would improve our brand," he told Gazzetta dello Sport. "I was speaking with one of our car dealerships and we agreed that the results of 2015 helped bring back credibility to the brand. If we were to somehow fail to win a title over a 10-year span it would be a tragedy."
Mercedes has dominated the last two seasons in Formula One and last year won 16 races to Ferrari's three. Marchionne said Mercedes got a head start on Ferrari under the regulations, but is reluctant to attribute blame within his team.
"[Mercedes' dominance] is because as soon as the rules were implemented they understood them immediately, while we took our time. But I don't want to criticise the past. From what I saw we didn't have the engine to win and the power unit wasn't good enough."
Yet Marchionne is confident his team will improve in the future and took the opportunity to praise team principal Maurizio Arrivabene.
"When we cleared our ranks. We won because we brought focus back to the team and began to do the things that are really important. Maurizio Arrivabene's arrival helped a lot."