Giancarlo Minardi has assessed Frederic Vasseur’s first season as Ferrari’s team principal, with the Frenchman facing his first real test in 2024.
There are still a couple of months left before the start of the next season, but at Ferrari, attention is already focused on 2024. Frederic Vasseur, who took over from Mattia Binotto at the beginning of January, will face his first real challenge in leading the team. If this year the Frenchman had to mainly manage the last gift from the Italo-Swiss technician, Project 676 will be the first entirely carried forward by his staff.
Giancarlo Minardi, the assessment of Fred Vasseur’s 2023, and the forecast for 2024:
“What would Ferrari need for the final leap in pursuit of Red Bull? If I knew, I would have already won the lottery,” said the Faenza manager to La Gazzetta Dello Sport.
“Sitting in an armchair, you watch the race, compare the times, you can make some considerations, but to really know how a team works, you have to live inside it, and sometimes that’s not even enough. So, it’s not the case to give judgments or even advice.”
After the preamble, Giancarlo Minardi went on to analyze the red team’s 2023 Formula One season: “Everyone expected a certain level, especially after a promising start, a level that the red car reached only in the end. So, it was a growing season.”
“In its second part, I think it gave us a taste of 2024 because, with the stability of the regulations, we will start from a situation where in qualifying, all 15 cars in Q2 were within one second. A nice sign of competitiveness and balance, where it is quite easy to go from being good to being much less good. Then, Ferrari and McLaren, as the championship progressed, improved their long runs, so hopefully, we’ll have some fun.” – he continued.
After commenting on Ferrari’s season as a whole, the president of the Imola racetrack also gave ratings for Fred Vasseur’s first year in red: “Having taken office in January 2023, I don’t think it can be evaluated too much. He found everything already done. The good part comes now.”
“Everyone tells me, and he himself has stated, that significant investments have been made in terms of personnel and labor, so we’ll see which and how many additions will come in. Inevitable operations, given that we come from a certain stagnation.” – he pointed out.
“The car has been made by the same people for years. It was time to perceive, understand, and learn what others are doing. That’s the task of the team principal. Of course, at Ferrari, when you’re second, you’re the first of the losers, so it’s not easy.”
One of the few certainties to build on in the next championship is represented by the Charles Leclerc – Carlos Sainz pair, who have kept the team afloat even in a quite complicated season: “They are a good, cohesive team, but it’s true that both have made mistakes. I don’t know how much it’s their fault and how much to overcome the difficulties of the car. Those mistakes will serve to grow and improve Ferrari’s results,” Giancarlo Minardi concludes.
Source: f1ingenerale
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