Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz insists that the Maranello team is not experiencing a “brain drain” despite several prominent team members departing from the Formula 1 outfit this year.
Following the conclusion of the 2022 Formula One championship, Team Principal Mattia Binotto was the one who paid the price for the fact that Ferrari was not able to mount a title challenge last season, despite a positive start to the year. The Italian manager was relieved of his responsibilities and replaced by Frenchman Frederic Vasseur from Alfa Romeo.. Additionally, key individuals such as David Sanchez and Laurent Mekies opted to pursue new roles with McLaren and AlphaTauri respectively.
These changes come at a time when Ferrari is grappling to mount a sustained challenge for the championship. Their 2022 campaign fell short due to power unit technical failures and a series of unfortunate strategical calls, while the 2023 Formula 1 single-seater has proven to be significantly slower than the dominant Red Bull RB19 car in terms of race pace, with Charles Leclerc able to match the Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez only on a fast run in qualifying, thanks also to his exceptional skills on a flying lap, as shown by Charles at the Baku City circuit a few weeks ago.
When questioned about the staff transitions at Ferrari, Carlos Sainz expressed unwavering confidence in the Maranello team’s restructuring process:
“We’re doing our due diligence in hiring people,” – the Spaniard driver explained in a recent interview for the media – “You probably lose [people] quicker than you gain, and it’s obviously more difficult to hire, it takes more time than to lose [people]. I’m pretty sure that the team is covering those two scenarios, and I am pretty confident with the plan that they’ve put together for the immediate future. I think [Mekies is] a very strong [person] and I’m not surprised that they want him as Team Principal, it is a step up for him.” – Carlos Sainz continued on this matter.
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His Maranello teammate Charles Leclerc is also confident the Italian side will be able to hit back and recover the gap to Red Bull, with the clear goal of fighting for race wins and the Formula 1 championships as soon as possible: “If I need to choose one team that can do that, it is Ferrari because I know what’s going on in the inside and what we are trying to achieve.” – the Monegasque driver pointed out.
Frederic Vasseur started his work in Maranello back in January, with the clear goal of brining Scuderia Ferrari back at the top of Formula 1, as Ferrari has been searching for a championship title since 2008, when the Italian side secured the Constructors’ title and dramatically missed out on the Drivers’ title with Felipe Massa.
The French manager expressed the same view as Carlos Sainz when asked about the process of hiring new staff following the recent departures of team members, while also pointing out that the focus of the media has only been on key figures like David Sanchez and Laurent Mekies.
“It’s not a matter of individuals. When you have 1,000 employees and you have a turnover of six or seven percent, it means that we have 100 people a year leaving and joining the company. And sometimes [the media] pay attention to one or two, but we have 100 people a year joining the company that are going from other teams or other businesses. It means that sometimes you are paying a lot of attention to names, but it’s not these driving performance – but we are recruiting a lot.” – Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur explained.
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