Ivan Capelli reflects on Ferrari's risk of having "a divided team" in 2023

The last days of this December, before the start of the new year, bring Ferrari inexorably closer to the actual implementation of the much-discussed change at the top of the Formula 1 Racing Division.

The biggest change is the departure of Mattia Binotto, who resigned a few weeks ago, but will remain in office until the end of this year so much as as he even attended – to general dismay – the end-of-year Gala organized in Bologna by the FIA. The one who will replace him, according to all the recent rumors, is Alfa Romeo’s Frederic Vasseur. The Frenchman, former team principal of Renault, with a very successful past in the minor categories, especially in GP2 (now Formula 2). The 54-year-old engineer from Draveil is a friend of Charles Leclerc, who made his Formula 1 under the leadership of Frederic Vasseur at Sauber in 2018.

According to many, this is a hint of what we could see in 2023 with Frederic Vasseur in charge of Scuderia Ferrari: a more Charles Leclerc-oriented Ferrari, which could put the needs of the very talented #16 from Monaco slightly ahead of Carlos Sainz’s who proved during his two-year experience in Maranello that he has the abilities to challenge his teammate, despite the fact that he finished 62 points behind Charles Leclerc in the 2022 Formula 1 Drivers’ standings.

However, not everyone is so convinced of this dynamic. Former Ferrari driver and now highly appreciated television commentator, Ivan Capelli, wrote an article for the Italian daily newspaper La Gazzetta dello Sport, trying to warn Ferrari. According to Ivan Capelli, the risk is that a fratricidal duel for team leadership develops within the Scuderia.

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Ivan Capelli’s reasoning does not concern so much the two drivers, who have always shown that they have an excellent relationship with each other, as much as their respective entourages and the so-called ‘spheres of influence’. “Ferrari had given Schumi the keys – explained Ivan Capelli, referring to the golden age experienced by Ferrari with the German Kaiser – but he arrived as a two-time world champion and had brought people he knew and with whom he had won. Charles Leclerc’s problem is that he could take over the team, but there isn’t a strong block behind him.” – the Italian former Formula One driver wrote.

“The new team principal will be Frederic Vasseur” – added the former Ferrari driver, thus confirming the fact that the French manager will indeed sign for the Maranello team – “and the manager Nicolas Todt who, like his father Jean, knows Ferrari inside out, but not others. On the other side of the box there is Carlos Sainz, who has great intelligence as a driver and, above all, has his father, Carlos Sainz sr. He is not a fool, he knows his way around. In his career he has raced for Volkswagen and Audi, he knows all the mechanisms and the people to decide to go elsewhere. In short, the management of the drivers will be very difficult, you risk having a divided team before starting the season.”