The 2024 Formula 1 campaign will go down in history as one of Ferrari’s best seasons in the hybrid era, as we await what 2025 has in store. Frederic Vasseur is already looking ahead, emphasizing the importance of consolidating the Maranello team’s mindset, a process that will be aided by Lewis Hamilton’s arrival. During the final press conference in Abu Dhabi, the Team Principal reflected on the upcoming season for the Scuderia, which he believes offers a promising opportunity.
Improving everywhere
When asked about the priorities for the new season, Fred Vasseur reiterated a concept he has expressed before, aligning with the identity he is instilling at Ferrari: “It would be a mistake to think there is only one thing. If you want to do a good job, you must focus on every single pillar of performance. Reliability, for instance, concerns every part of the car. This means we need to improve everywhere. However, I prefer not to make a list because I don’t want to point fingers at someone or a particular group. I’m thinking about every single area and every single department in the company. We simply have to do a better job.”
“This isn’t criticism; it just has to be the team’s mindset. Every morning you need to try to do a better job than yesterday, hundredth of a second by hundredth of a second. That’s the DNA of our sport. If you don’t have this mindset, you’re dead. I will keep encouraging all employees to believe they all contribute to performance, at every single level. We will need to do a better job than in 2024.”
The arrival of Lewis Hamilton
Fred Vasseur has consistently emphasized mindset, both to journalists and to the team itself. According to the Team Principal, Hamilton will help reinforce the new identity of the Maranello team, bringing cultural and sporting contributions: “I think it’s always important to have people coming in from other teams with a different culture. This isn’t against Italians, the English, or anyone else; it’s just that we are in a field where the transfer of skills is crucial. As Ferrari, we are somewhat isolated, but it will be a big boost for us. It’s already happening, as we’ve hired some people from other teams. I’m convinced Hamilton will bring his experience, with 17-18 years in Formula 1, a couple of world titles, and more. He will be a big push to maintain this mindset of trying to do a better job everywhere.”
“You shouldn’t think performance comes from others or from one team; it doesn’t depend on a single hero or anyone,” Fred Vasseur continues. “It comes from everyone, and that’s important. I clearly remember that even in 2005-2006, Lewis was like that, pushing on the small details. If we look at the average gap between us and McLaren, it’s probably a couple of hundredths in qualifying. We are at a stage where it’s all about details, and that applies to Red Bull and Mercedes too. We need this mindset to find every thousandth of a second in every area.”
Work in progress
The Maranello team’s leader has always been cautious not to raise expectations too high but positions Ferrari in front of the opportunity that 2025 will present: “Regarding next year, I think we have a good opportunity. We are improving collectively, and morale is high. This is very important. What I like is that we all feel we can do a better job, and that’s crucial if you want to improve.”
“We will take a big step forward, and I am quite satisfied with the work done in the factory. What gives me confidence, though, is above all the progress we’ve made compared to a year ago and our ability to react in difficult moments, because that’s when you see if the team works as one. When you win, everyone is nice and best friends; those weekends are fairly easy to manage. It’s in tough moments that the reaction matters. Every time, we have reacted very well. In June, we found solutions as quickly as possible, and everyone was pushing in the same direction.”
2026
Missing the world title by a whisker provides the small consolation of having more resources for aerodynamic development in the first half of next year, thanks to the inversely proportional allocation of wind tunnel hours and CFD: “It will probably be more useful for 2026 than for 2025. The new wind tunnel period starts on December 31. I don’t want to talk about all the work we’ll do because at the beginning of the new year, we’ll continue developing the 2025 car, but we will focus entirely on 2026 fairly early in the season. I think everyone will do more or less the same in the first two or three months and then decide by the end of March whether to keep working on 2025 a bit longer or not,” Frederic Vasseur concludes.
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