In a recent interview with Autosprint, Scuderia Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur discussed how things have changed significantly within the Italian side since his arrival in Maranello up to the present day. Here are the words of the Frenchman.
Ferrari Undergoes Transformation with Fred Vasseur
Speaking about the improvements made by the Italian team, Fred Vasseur stated: “We’re miles ahead. I think there’s no such thing as a perfect structure in a constantly evolving framework: if you don’t evolve for two years, you’re dead. We will make some changes in the future, and this will be in the short, medium, and long term. But it’s absolutely normal and in line with what others do.”
Analyzing what happened at Alpine, he added: “I’m surprised by the sequence of events, but I’m not part of the team and I can’t comment on the matter. Perhaps, I would have waited until Monday after the race to announce it.”
Returning to discuss the Prancing Horse, the Frenchman further explained that “developing the car and the team is necessary to do a better job and progress from race to race to become competitive again. We saw in Barcelona, when we introduced a series of technical innovations, we struggled and were in a phase of understanding and development. Seven days later, in Canada, we had the potential to win the Grand Prix. The most important thing for me is to improve every single performance pillar. We’re working on all aspects that affect performance, including the drivers. We have a plan that tells us our car will be two-tenths faster in September, another two in October, and four more in 2024. We have our roadmap and we can’t waste time focusing on others’, especially because we don’t know it.” – the French manager pointed out.
When asked if the right approach to return to winning ways was the iron-fist method used by Jean Todt during the Michael Schumacher era, he replied: “The iron-fist approach is not my way, and times have changed. People’s psychological approach is different; you need a system that is more inclusive and involves everyone in a winning project. This applies in any context, not just in Formula 1; there are no winning recipes by definition. We simply need to improve the system, and Jean has been fantastic in this regard.”
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The team principal of the Scuderia then revealed: “When I arrived at Ferrari, many from the outside had warned me that it wouldn’t be easy and that there would be rigidities to overcome. Actually, it’s not like that; everything is much better than how it was described to me. As soon as we perform better in terms of results, a virtuous cycle will be created internally as well. Furthermore, we are recruiting at a very fast pace to strengthen ourselves. We are signing contracts with professionals who will join us in two years according to the existing agreements, but if we don’t start doing this, they will never come. It takes time to build a team.” – he continued.
Fred Vasseur concluded by saying: “When you hire senior profiles, it takes a lot of time before they arrive. If they are operational in 2025, their contribution will be seen in the 2026 car. It’s a long time, but the message of bringing in certain people also serves to create a positive sentiment within the team, among sponsors, and in the media. In one year, we hire eighty people, but no names ever come out. This year we are hiring forty more. Maybe we’ll know who they are when they enroll their children in schools in Maranello.”
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