F1, Ferrari: first day in Maranello for Fred Vasseur

“Frederic Vasseur will join Scuderia Ferrari on January 9 as Team Principal and General Manager.” – this comment was part of the official press release published by the Maranello team last month to confirm the arrival of the French manager at the helm of the Prancing Horse starting from 2023 after the resignation presented by Mattia Binotto who no longer felt the necessary trust of the president John Elkann and the chief executive officer Benedetto Vigna.

Therefore today Fred Vasseur’s role in Ferrari officially begins although the former number one of the Alfa Romeo pit wall has already spent a few days in Maranello at the end of 2022, important days to get to know the Gestione Sportiva in which Fred Vasseur was able to speak with the drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, both with a contract with Ferrari valid until 2024.

No major changes in terms of technical organization chart are expected from Frederic Vasseur. The role currently not assigned to anyone within the Formula 1 Racing Division is the figure of technical director: in recent weeks, the Italian media pointed to the possibility of Simone Resta’s return in Maranello with Enrico Cardile (current head of the chassis area) in pole position to assume the role of technical director.

The 2023 car, project 675, will be presented on Tuesday 14 February. Fred Vasseur obviously finds at his disposal a single-seater by now defined in practically all concepts and details, with the Maranello men who have concentrated above all on the reliability of the power unit to allow the engine to unleash all its power without running into technical failures like the ones that cost at least three race wins for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz last season and which then forced the Ferrari technicians to limit the power units to preserve their reliability.

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Frederic Vasseur also has a significant political issue on the table. Ferrari, in fact, since 2022 has expressed its concern about the fact that Red Bull Powertrains Limited obtained the status of new PU manufacturer in view of the 2026 engines, a status that guarantees 25 million dollars to invest more in development (10 in 2023, 10 in 2024 and 5 in 2025) as well as more testing time than the manufacturers already enrolled in Formula 1. The tug-of-war with the FIA is still ongoing as Ferrari not stepping back on this issue because in Maranello they are aware of how crucial extra hours at the dynamic bench can be, given the fact that while working on the 2022 power unit, Scuderia Ferrari had to choose between performance or reliability with the amount of hours available, obviously preferring the former in the light of the engine development freeze which started on 1 September 2022 (date up to which work on the hybrid part could still be done).

Fred Vasseur’s agenda must therefore be quite dense between assigning responsibilities and roles in the Ferrari chain of command, especially regarding track operations and political issues which, however intangible, often prove to be decisive for the results. There are not simple challenges and will immediately put Fred Vasseur to the test ahead of the debut in Bahrain on March 5, an appointment which is less than two months away.