Since January 9, 2023, the day when Fred Vasseur set foot in Ferrari as the team principal for the first time, seven months have passed. They haven’t gone as he would have wanted or hoped, but he quickly accepted that fact. The summer break of the F1 World Championship provided an opportunity for a lunch meeting not far from his office in Maranello between Italian journalist Gianluca Gasparini and the French manager.
Here is Fred Vasseur’s interview for Gazzetta dello Sport.
Resisting temptations, he ordered only a fillet with a side of artichokes and mineral water. Studying his interlocutor with a somewhat dreamy look, he answered without hesitation, showing that he had a very clear vision. Starting from the current season. “We didn’t expect these results, but everything was visible from the first day on the track. The most important thing in these cases is how the group reacts. And the reaction has been good. Returning to the top takes time. When people talk about F1, they think that problems can be solved in a week, but it’s like navigating a very large ship and making a change of course: it’s not immediate. Today, the personnel market in GPs is like that of football players; the top 50 technicians have contracts of three years or more. To take them away, you have to wait for the contracts to expire or pay hefty penalties or negotiate for early release. In short, it’s complicated. With an added challenge for us compared to British teams: since the teams are close there, if you hire someone, they can keep the same residence, the same school for their children, and the same lifestyle. For someone to come here, instead, we first have to convince him, then his wife, and the following week the children…”.
Do you understand why the SF-23 isn’t a winner?
“If you analyze the data, in qualifying, we’re about 0.2% behind Red Bull, sometimes 0.4%, but on some occasions, we’ve done better than them (in Baku, for example). The gap in the race, on the other hand, is much greater, so the entire difference manifests in the race pace. As it happens with others, just look at Mercedes. One logical explanation is that the Ferrari is difficult to drive: on a single lap, you can take risks and push it to the limit, but in the race, it’s not possible, and the performance drops. It’s an aerodynamic matter. In 2022, we were fine; we tried to do even better in the winter, but underestimating the fact that pushing something to the extreme sometimes complicates the driver’s life: when the car moves, it becomes unpredictable, its load isn’t consistent.”
Are you happy with your drivers?
“You can always do better, as a team and as drivers. Charles didn’t expect a season like this and initially pushed harder than necessary; now he seems to have digested the situation better. Carlos is very consistent, and for this, he’s a good reference for us. As a character, Leclerc is impulsive; if something isn’t going well, he doesn’t hold back. However, for his own good and for the team’s, sometimes it’s better to calm down before speaking. When you’re heated, you don’t have all the relevant information to form a definitive judgment, and it’s better to take time in front of an open microphone. He’s still very fast, but this year, if you look at qualifying, Carlos has been more on par with him than in the past.”
There were talks months ago about a negotiation with Hamilton.
“I talk to him at every GP; he raced for me twenty years ago, and we are still close. I helped him when he went to McLaren at the start of his F1 career, and we occasionally catch up. Clearly, if people see us together in the paddock, a commotion arises, but the relationship remains. I don’t want to compare him to our drivers; it wouldn’t make sense. But the contribution of a top driver isn’t just about driving; it’s also technical, strategic, helping to engage an engineer. And in this case, having Hamilton, Verstappen, but even Leclerc makes it easier. Those who work in F1 are passionate about racing; they enjoy working with champions.”
Are you still focused on 2023, or are you already thinking about next year?
“For this season, we stopped wind tunnel developments at the end of July, but we have already decided and are working on parts that we will carry through to Qatar or Austin. As for the car for 2024, we are still at the philosophical concepts stage. The numbers say you need to be aggressive in the design, but with simulations and equations, we’re already at the maximum. We need to think differently, find margins through which drivers can drive without always being on the limit. And the deadline for the new car isn’t the end of the year; we need to be ready for Bahrain in March. We have many months ahead of us.”
Show your support for Scuderia Ferrari with official merchandise collection! Click here to enter the F1 online Store and shop securely! And also get your F1 tickets for every race with VIP hospitality and unparalleled insider access. Click here for the best offers to support Charles and Carlos from the track!
How is the recruitment campaign going?
“We’ve brought in about 25 people, but we’re looking for more. None of them are already working in the Scuderia. We’ve signed with a high-profile name (Loic Serra from Mercedes, editor’s note), who should start on January 1, 2025, but we’re trying to speed things up. How can I convince Toto Wolff to release him earlier? I’ll try when we’re on a boat together… Anyway, as happened with Mekies, sometimes you have people leaving Ferrari, situations cross, and you can negotiate dates. Let’s say that this has quickly become the main part of my job at Ferrari. You have to build good relationships and convince people to move. The first ones you get are the hardest, and then others follow suit seeing them.”
You went through the same path, and now you’ll settle permanently in Italy.
“When I went to Sauber, my wife didn’t want to come; she didn’t move from France to Zurich. Now she is, but I understand how it’s not easy: she has to leave her activities, she likes what she does and has to let it go. After the summer, we’ll settle in Bologna; our youngest of four children is starting high school, and we’ve taken a house near the school. Bologna is a beautiful city, and I’m closer to the airport. I’ll commute between Maranello, but it’s not a problem; I wake up early, and the time I spend in the car is used for work calls.”
What do you like the most so far about life at Ferrari?
“The passion around the team, which is huge. Every morning when I arrive at the office, there are people charged up at the entrance. It’s a great boost, even though sometimes it doesn’t help when you need time and calm to grow. Then the working atmosphere: in the paddock, when it was hypothesized that I could come to Ferrari, everyone told me, ‘You’ll see what a mess, what internal struggles.’ That’s completely false. It’s an idea that people have formed and become accustomed to repeating. But if I compare Ferrari to other teams, even those where I’ve been, the atmosphere is very good. I’m always critical of myself and push everyone: the worst thing for a team is to be complacent and relaxed. We discuss a lot, and today in Ferrari, we don’t blame each other around a table.”
Sometimes, you seem too kind.
“You should ask the drivers… You’ll never see my tough side when I have to say certain things to a team member. I’m not emotional. I discuss face-to-face; for me, it doesn’t make sense to do these things in public. On Monday mornings, they often hear from me, but with a precise list of things to do and not in front of journalists for a personal show that doesn’t help anyone.”
What’s your relationship with the Ferrari top management like?
“Frequent and good. Ferrari is a very famous company but has a reasonable size. I have dinner with Benedetto Vigna at least once a week, and I hear from John Elkann on the phone like an antibiotic, morning, lunch, and dinner. Having such a relationship is a huge advantage: if you need to make a decision, the process is very fast. When I was at Renault, for certain changes, you had to wait for the executive committee to meet; it took days and days. Here, a problem I bring up in the morning can have a response in the afternoon. I can’t speak for the past, but I’ve been impressed by the internal communication with the top management and their responsiveness.”
There’s talk of other possible budget cap violations.
“I don’t want to comment on something I don’t know. Speaking generally, what I can say is that last year’s punishment wasn’t severe enough, and if it happens again this time, it should be much more drastic. Considering that the technical advantage translates into a sporting advantage, the punishment should be sporting, not a fine. If you commit a handball foul in the penalty area in soccer, it’s a penalty, not a fine. The 10% cut in wind tunnel work is a joke: the major work has already been done, and what you don’t use for aerodynamics, you can spend on weight savings and more. If another irregularity is proven, a drastic punishment is needed for 2024, a one-year disqualification or something similar. We know that managing the budget cap is difficult, but we have perfect systems to control spending, and in the face of doubt, you can ask the FIA. And then another thing needs to be explained: a 5% violation isn’t small, it’s large. You have a budget set at 135 million, 80 just goes to personnel, then about twenty costs for the races (material you buy, brakes, and so on), building 4 cars at the start of the season costs another 20, and there are additional expenses. In the end, you’re between 120 and 125, more or less fixed costs for everyone, and you have less than 10 million left for development. So, you’ve exceeded by 2 million out of 7 or 8; it’s not 5% of the total 135 as they’ve said. Collectively, as F1, this needs to be resolved; we must not sweep it under the rug because in the end, someone could organize it behind closed doors. There’s a big difference between an unintentional mistake and a choice. Just like between someone who makes a mistake filling out their tax return and someone who establishes a company in some tax haven to evade taxes. We need to be tough; the future of the cost cap is at stake. If it ends with another small fine, then everyone will do the same thing; they’ll budget for the allocation to pay, and that’s it. The big manufacturers can afford it…”
Leave a Reply