According to several recent reports in the Italian media, Ferrari chief executive Benedetto Vigna, whose main goal until now has been to focus on the much-awaited business plan amid Ferrari’s electric future, also wants to be more involved in the daily activities of the Formula 1 Racing Division, alongside new Team Principal Frederic Vasseur.
The 2022 Formula 1 championship did not leave up to the high expectations of the Ferrari top management, despite the promising start to the campaign and a highly competitive F1-75 car in the first part of the year. The two race wins secured by Charles Leclerc in the Bahrain Grand Prix (the opening round of 2022) and the Australian Grand Prix (round 3), restored enthusiasm to fans, but it was all a temporary illusion.
Several power unit reliability problems and a series of poor strategical calls from the Maranello pit wall gradually affected Ferrari’s title challenge up to the point of allowing rivals Red Bull and Max Verstappen to easily win both titles with several rounds before the end of the season.
Red Bull also proved much better at developing its RB18 car during the season and ended the championship with the most dominant challenger, despite the fact that the F1-75 proved very fast in the early stages of the season. It was a negative trend for the Maranello team, as the Ferrari senior management lost faith in Mattia Binotto, who felt he was being pushed out and decided to hand in his resignation at the end of the season.
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Despite the fact that chairman John Elkann held negotiations with several potential high profile candidates to replace Mattia Binotto, including Red Bull boss Christian Horner, Frederic Vasseur was eventually confirmed as the new Ferrari team principal. However, according to Motorsport Italy, Benedetto Vigna no longer wants to have a back seat when it comes to the Formula 1 Department and will therefore have “a more active role alongside Fred Vasseur” – the Italian media reports.
How exactly the new dynamic will work and what responsibilities each figure will have in Maranello remains to seen, but this does indeed represent a key difference from the last few years with Mattia Binotto in charge, as the Italian manager had the freedom and trust to run the F1 team as he considered best. Frederic Vasseur should therefore have more time to focus on the key issues which affected the on track performance of Ferrari and the operational problems seen in 2022, while chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna should be more involved in representing Ferrari at key meetings, a “political power” that has been missing for Mattia Binotto in recent years.
Motorsport Italy also reported encouraging news regarding the 2023 Ferrari Formula 1 car: according to the Italian media, first data collected from the wind tunnel and the simulations show the single-seater as being a significant improvement to the F1-75.
Not less important is the power unit situation, as Ferrari has been focusing on fixing the reliability issues that affected the first part of 2022 and forced the Maranello team to limit the engine power in the second half of the campaign. Motorsport Italy informs that the ‘planned duration targets’ for 2023 on the power unit side have been reached, which has allowed Ferrari tone down activity in that department.
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