Ferrari president Sergio Marchionne has admitted the team are already "looking around" at the driver market beyond the end of next season.
Marchionne has also told Sebastian Vettel to race in a calmer manner next season in order for the four-time champion to recapture his best form in the final year of his current contract.
After a successful first season together in 2015 in which their new star signing won three times, Ferrari and Vettel endured a challenging 2016 as the team failed to win a race and reports surfaced of tensions between the four-time world champion and management.
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The German's contract expires at the end of 2017 and team and driver have previously said they will not rush into talks over a renewal.
Speaking at Ferrari's annual Christmas lunch with Italian media, Marchionne made clear it was up to the team to give the German driver a more competitive car next year but stressed Vettel, whose rants over team radio became a theme of 2016, must also play his part in delivering on track.
"We need to give a winning car to Sebastian and give him a more comfortable position to drive how he knows to do," said Marchionne. "He has to be not nervous like in Mexico, but he apologised for that. He has to be focused only to drive at his best.
"We are not in a hurry to renew, first we want come back to winning."
Team boss Maurizio Arrivabene added: "Seb was here yesterday to work with simulator and he's pushing hard. We need to give him a winning car and he has to drive like in Abu Dhabi, a fantastic race. This is not the moment to talk about renewing, we have time to do that."
Unusually, both Ferrari drivers' contracts expire at the end of 2017 with the 37-year-old Kimi Raikkonen only on a single-year deal. The Scuderia this week hinted they were already looking to the future by signing 23-year-old Italian Antonio Giovinazzi as reserve driver after an eye-catching campaign in GP2.
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"I don't know what Kimi would like to do after 2017," said Marchionne.
"Of course we are looking around but we have also some interesting young drivers like [Antonio] Fuoco, who has done a great job in the simulator, [Charles] Leclerc who has won GP3 and Giovinazzi, who becomes our third driver to work in the simulator and we hope will have some chances to drive in Friday practice with Sauber."
Could Vettel leave after 2017?
Sky in Italy's F1 commentator Carlo Vanzini, who attended the Maranello lunch, believes Ferrari and Vettel will ultimately stay together beyond 2017, but the team currently hold a strong negotiating hand.
"Ferrari are in no rush to renew and Marchionne doesn't seem afraid of losing Vettel, because he's confident of giving him a good car in 2017," said Vanzini.
"Of course, a feeling is that Lewis Hamilton is one of the drivers that has to arrive one day at Ferrari, but a lot depends on the expected deal between Bottas and Mercedes and how long it will be.
"Ferrari will be in a position of strength. The last time both drivers were in their last year of contract was in 1995 with Gerhard Berger and Jean Alesi, and at the end of that season they changed both for Michael Schumacher and Eddie Irvine.
"But the idea is to continue with Seb and achieve the dream of winning together."
Top brass show united front
The Scuderia's winless 2016 has been dominated by talk of behind-the-scenes ructions with a fresh restructure of the team's technical department taking place following the departure of James Allison in July.
Engine boss Mattia Binotto was promoted to chief technical officer and Vanzini believes the presence of the Italian alongside Marchionne and Arrivabene at the team's Christmas media lunch was an effort to show the management are "united and compact" heading into 2017.
Mercedes' Paddy Lowe had been linked with a move to Italy but Marchionne has backed the team's largely home-grown technical department to deliver.
"We are sure we are ok with how we are now," said Marchionne. "I don't think that a single man can change the situation, we need a focus group.
"I'm Italian and I'm sure that Italians are the best not like some who say that in this world you need British people. Mattia is doing a great job, particularly on putting together all the different areas."
Marchionne also accepted blame for ramping up the pressure on the team ahead of 2016 by declaring they were ready to beat Mercedes.
"I did a big mistake last year with my statements being so strong of being sure to win," added the Italian-Canadian Fiat chief.
"Now I know more things than a year ago. For sure I've learned not to talk before [the season], but of course we are Ferrari and our goal is to win."