Fred Vasseur – Syndication Server

Ferrari in title fight for the long haul, Vasseur says

Ferrari has been in the championship fight for some time but needs to only focus on each upcoming race rather than the bigger points picture, according to team principal Fred Vasseur. Charles Leclerc’s victory and Carlos Sainz’s third place in the …

Ferrari has been in the championship fight for some time but needs to only focus on each upcoming race rather than the bigger points picture, according to team principal Fred Vasseur.

Charles Leclerc’s victory and Carlos Sainz’s third place in the Monaco Grand Prix enabled Ferrari to close the gap to leader Red Bull to just 24 points, after Max Verstappen was limited to sixth and Sergio Perez retired. Although it was just Ferrari’s second win of the year, the Scuderia has scored a podium in every round except one — finishing fourth and fifth in China — and Vasseur says it has been in the mix for some time.

“Honestly we have 16 races to go, the most important is to think about the next one, not to think about the championships,” Vasseur told SpeedCity Broadcasting. “We have a long way to go and we have to stay calm.

“We were in the fight the last three or four races. We won in Melbourne; in Miami we had everybody within about six seconds, Imola also. The fight is there.”

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Sunday’s win was Leclerc’s first at home and came after twice failing to convert pole into victory in Monaco for Ferrari, with Vasseur acknowledging the significance of the result.

“It’s a huge release off the shoulders of everybody. Firstly I’m thinking about Charles because I think he had the question every single year, ‘This year what will happen? Blah blah blah’ and I think I will have a Charles pre-Monaco and post-Monaco now. But honestly I think it’s good for the team because they are pushing like hell at the factory — we have to not forget the guys back at the factory — and they did a mega good job.”

Vasseur also praised Sainz for his approach to the race, with the drivers responding to the way the team wanted them to handle the unusual approach to a race that didn’t require a pit stop after an early red flag.

“It’s a great feeling for sure, and it was under control from lap one. But the risk in this situation is to try to push too much or to lose control a little bit because you want to get more — and there’s nothing more to get than the win,” Vasseur said. “The drivers asked a couple of times to push a little bit more but we tried to slow them down a little bit.

“Carlos did a mega good job and we had a tricky position because we were asking him to push, to slow down, to push, to slow down, and he did fantastically.”

Title fight can change quickly with McLaren and Ferrari in mix – Vasseur

Ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur believes the Formula 1 championship fight is far from over this season because multiple teams are in the mix with Red Bull at many venues. Vasseur wants to Ferrari to bring …

Vasseur wants to Ferrari to bring developments more quickly to avoid slipping back on any given weekend, after estimating his team, McLaren and Red Bull were within 0.1s of each other in Imola. He believes that means the championship fight can be ignited quickly, as there is an increased chance of drivers being able to take big points off each other.

“Firstly, we did only seven races out of 24, that means we have 17 to go,” Vasseur said. “At this point of the season last year we were 100 points behind Aston Martin and we finished 100 points in front of them. It means the end of the championship is never after race seven, and it’s never more true this season.

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“I think that because the gap is very close, it’s not very often that you have six or potentially eight cars that could win a race. It means that when you’re not in good shape it can move you from P1 to P8, and in P8 you are scoring almost zero. That means the championship can change in one or two weekends.

“Imagine if you have a crash, a DNF and so on, it’s a game-changer in terms of the championship. Honestly, I didn’t have a look at the classification and I don’t know the delta in terms of points, but I think that if one team is doing a one-two and the other one has a DNF it means McLaren can come back, or we can come back at Red Bull.

“There’s still 17 weekends to go, let’s be focused on Monaco and don’t think about the championship. Let’s be focused on what we have to do race after race.”

After Charles Leclerc finished third in Imola — and within eight seconds of race winner Max Verstappen — Vasseur says recent upgrades from Ferrari have helped it join McLaren in putting pressure on Red Bull.

“It’s good news for me, it’s good news for F1, it’s good news for the championship,” he said. “If you have three teams within seven seconds in [nearly] 70 laps, it’s less than one tenth per lap. It was almost the same from the beginning of the weekend and we’ll start from scratch in Monaco with a different track layout, different corners and so on.

“Overall it’s a kind of mixed feelings for me, because we did a step forward, McLaren did probably the same as us; we compensated, I think, partly the delta with Red Bull and we are not far away now. I am a bit frustrated, because I think if we do a one-two in qualifying, we do a one-two in the race. If we missed something it was in qualifying and not in the race.”

Charles Leclerc has often been in the mix at the front for his home race, but the stars haven’t fully aligned for him there…yet. Mark Sutton/Motorsport Images

Vasseur says Ferrari wants to help bring an end to Leclerc’s bad luck at his home race with a first podium at the event. Leclerc has been on pole position twice at Monaco but on the first occasion a crash at the end of Q3 led to a mechanical issue going undetected and he failed to start the race. Then a year later he repeated the qualifying result but a strategic error saw him drop to fourth, a result that remains his best at home, something that Vasseur is keen to improve on.

“A few days ago, it was our home race in Imola and this weekend, Charles will be on home turf in Monaco, a race that is unfinished business for him and we’d like to help him put it to bed,” Vasseur said. “Carlos [Sainz] also loves racing in the principality, where he took his first podium at the wheel of a Ferrari, so they are both very motivated.

“It’s generally accepted that, with the current generation of cars, overtaking is harder here than at any other track on the calendar, which means qualifying takes on even greater importance than usual. We will therefore be looking to make a step forward in this discipline, as so far this season we have lacked what it takes to be quickest of all.

“With this in mind, we have been working hard in the simulator and during engineering meetings, preparing everything down to the smallest detail and we fully intend to be front-runners.”

Vasseur confident Ferrari can keep putting pressure on Red Bull

Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s confidence in its 2024 car means it can continue to put pressure on Red Bull and take advantage of any mistakes. Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix, leading home a Ferrari one-two to add to the podium finishes …

Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s confidence in its 2024 car means it can continue to put pressure on Red Bull and take advantage of any mistakes.

Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix, leading home a Ferrari one-two to add to the podium finishes behind Red Bull that the team had achieved in the opening two rounds. While Max Verstappen retired in Melbourne, Vasseur says mistakes are more likely from Red Bull if Ferrari can be consistently putting pressure on, and he feels that is a realistic target given the form the Scuderia is showing so far.

“Confidence is a huge part of the result in this business, and I think we are building up the confidence over the last months,” Vasseur said. “It was already the case over the last part of the season last year. [Melbourne] I think is good evidence that when we are putting everything together – and I’m not sure that we will be able to do it every single weekend – we can put them a little bit under pressure.

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“When they are under pressure, then they will also do more mistakes. It means that we have to continue in this direction. We are much more confident of the fact that we can manage this kind of level, because from lap one on day one, we were there and it was quite smooth. It’s in this situation that we are doing the best car for the Sunday.”

Vasseur attributes that added confidence to the more predictable car that has been delivered this season, as it gives Ferrari more consistency both for the drivers behind the wheel but also to then add performance with upgrades.

“I think even last year it was like this,” he said. “We are ready quite soon into the weekend, but when you have small issues or reliability issues, or not a clean weekend, then you are losing time and when you are [chasing] after Red Bull you cannot lose one lap.

“From the beginning of the season we had very consistent sessions from FP1 to the qualifying. We were a bit disappointed (in Melbourne) after the qualifying because we had the feeling that we could have done a better job, but considering the race was more based on the tire management and tire deg then it was not a drama, and [the race] was a good example.

“I’m not focused at all on the performance of Red Bull, I’m focused on the performance of our car. We made a huge step forward, perhaps on the base of one lap it’s true but we were not nowhere last year on one lap pace.

“But we made a huge step, I think it’s more on the consistency between the two compounds. Between one stint and the other one the car is much easier to drive, much easier to read also for the drivers – and much easier to develop. It’s probably the biggest step that we did compared to last year, having something that we can have at least a good read of the car quite early in the weekend.”

Vasseur says Sainz call ‘one of the most difficult’ of his life

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says having to inform Carlos Sainz that he was going to be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in 2025 made for one of the most difficult phone calls of his life. Sainz was the only non-Red Bull winner in 2023 and had …

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says having to inform Carlos Sainz that he was going to be replaced by Lewis Hamilton in 2025 made for one of the most difficult phone calls of his life.

Sainz was the only non-Red Bull winner in 2023 and had wanted to finalize a new contract with Ferrari before the start of this season. However, the Spaniard will now leave at the end of the year to make way for Hamilton after the shock signing of the seven-time world champion, and Vasseur admits speaking to both Sainz and Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff was tough.

“As you can imagine, it was not the easiest call of my life,” Vasseur said. “One of the most difficult, with the one with Toto! I’m fully convinced he’s a very professional driver, that he understands that we have a long season in front of us — it’s a huge opportunity, and I think it’s also a dream to be in this situation, to have the team behind him.

“I think we had a long discussion as you can imagine, but I will be fully supportive of Carlos — he is fully committed and we know that we have to do the job together; we are professional.”

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Although Vasseur disputes the suggestion that it’s unfair for Sainz to lose his seat after performing strongly in 2023, he admits the decision to sign Hamilton had nothing to do with his current driver’s abilities.

“Unfair, I don’t know if it is the right word because I think for the team, the opportunity of Lewis is something that you have to consider in any case. He’s the guy with the biggest experience, and it’s a huge opportunity for us; it’s nothing to do with Carlos. Carlos did a great job last year, I’m sure he will do a great job next year. We have a very good personal relationship but it is like it is and we have to be focused on the future.”

The Ferrari team principal is confident the current two drivers will continue to work well together, with Charles Leclerc and Sainz having enjoyed a strong relationship over the past three seasons.

“Honestly, all through the season, we have always a good relationship between them. I’m not asking them to be the best friends in the world and go on vacation together, I’m asking them to work in the interests of Ferrari first, and in the right way, in the right approach and with the right mentality. All through the season, they did a good job. I think it’s also with this kind of relationship that we were able to come back and catch up, and thanks to them for the professionalism.”

Being more aggressive paid off for Ferrari – Vasseur

Ferrari was more aggressive later in the 2023 season that paid off in its results, according to team principal Fred Vasseur. Ferrari struggled for consistency in the first part of the season, sitting fourth in the constructors’ championship and …

Ferrari was more aggressive later in the 2023 season that paid off in its results, according to team principal Fred Vasseur.

Ferrari struggled for consistency in the first part of the season, sitting fourth in the constructors’ championship and nearly 60 points adrift of Mercedes at the halfway point after the Hungarian Grand Prix. In the second half, Ferrari closed that gap to finish just three points adrift of second place in the standings and while Vasseur says there are personnel changes taking place in Maranello he was more impressed with the ability of the current team to change its approach.

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“We already changed some people – I’m not a big fan of communicating names, I never did it and I won’t do it,” Vasseur said. “But it’s not about one person or even me, it’s more about the group. I think the most important is the group of people that we have, and I am quite proud of the reaction of the team during the season as a group, including drivers in the team.

“We had a tough first six months until Monza, and the reaction was a good one and it means as a group we work pretty well. For sure you always have to do individual changes in an organization, and we are doing it, but I think on this process we are recruiting and recruiting a lot.

“In F1 you have a huge inertia due to the contracts in place. When you identify an issue, you decide to recruit, you have the process of recruitment and you then have the guy will join 12 months later with a six-month notice period plus – he will work on the car of the year after [arriving] and that means very often you will take a decision and the impact is a year plus two or plus three.

“But this is not the only topic, I think the main topic for us and the best improvement we made this season was more on the approach and the mentality. We took more risk at the end and we were a bit more aggressive, and this paid off in the last part.”

With Ferrari actually slipping from second in 2022 to finish third last season, Vasseur says the team cannot be happy with its final result but needs to focus on the positive momentum it has created.

“Nobody can be happy with what we did at the beginning of the season. We had too many issues in terms of reliability and so, and I was the first one upset with this, and performance.

“But I think more than anything, the reaction of the group and the reaction of the team, the fact that we were able to do – I’m not a big fan of statistics – but I think we did something like five pole positions out of eight events or something like this. The fact that we are able to fight with Max [Verstappen] on some occasions in the races was a good step forward.

“Even if we are not happy, and I am the first one, I don’t need to have Mr [Benedetto] Vigna or Mr [John] Elkan telling me, I’m not happy with P3. This is clear. But I am more than happy with the reaction of the team and I think this feeling is the same for everybody.”

Vasseur expects driver decision soon despite missing targets

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur admits he has missed targets when it comes to finalizing the Formula 1 futures of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz but expects to do so soon. Both Leclerc and Sainz are out of contract at the end of next season, …

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur admits he has missed targets when it comes to finalizing the Formula 1 futures of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz but expects to do so soon.

Both Leclerc and Sainz are out of contract at the end of next season, as two of the biggest names among 75% of the grid that have deals expiring in a year’s time. Vasseur had wanted to make a decision on the Ferrari drivers’ respective futures by the end of 2023 but he says there is no cause for concern that the timeline has been pushed back beyond the New Year.

“As you know, they are under contract with us until the end of 2024 — it means that we still have 13 months in front of us,” Vasseur said. “It’s quite comfortable and if you have a look, Mercedes renewed the contract by the end of August and that meant that we still have a lot of weeks and months in front of us.

“But I told you, I think one year ago, that we will try to take a decision by the end of the year. I have to admit the last part of the season was a big chaos for everybody and I think it was very demanding and we had meetings and started the discussion, but we are late compared to the initial plan.

“It’s not an issue at all — we are much in advance compared to Mercedes and we are easy on this that we will take the decision soon.”

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Given a run of five races in six weeks that ended the season, Vasseur says the intense nature of the calendar played a part in driver performances over the course of the year. Expecting similar in 2024, the Frenchman explains he is wary of asking too much of Leclerc and Sainz during the off-season when they need to recharge.

“They had a lot of involvement into the development of the car from the beginning. And they are quite pleased with the situation,” Vasseur said. “Now it’s not at all a clear indication of what we will do next year but it’s important to have them on board from the beginning.

“I think they were both quite exhausted after the season; it was a long one for everybody but it’s also a long one for them. After Abu Dhabi they had the test and then we had a demo in Saudi, so it was a never-ending story. They came back the week after and they were in the simulator. They will have a break for the next two or three weeks and be back on the 9th or 10th of January.

“It’s good also for them to manage their time and it will be even worse or more difficult next year. With more races — starting a bit earlier, finishing a bit later — I think during the season every single driver was a bit up and down. We have to anticipate this and to do a good job on this because I think it will be part of the performance, and I think they completely deserve the Christmas break.”

FIA jumped to ‘bad conclusions’ over Wolffs – Vasseur

The FIA’s public statement about a potential investigation into a conflict of interest involving Toto and Susie Wolff was too hasty and “quite embarrassing for the whole sport,” according to Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur. The governing body …

The governing body issued a statement off the back of a single report in a monthly publication, saying it was looking into the matter of “the allegation of information of a confidential nature being passed to an F1 team principal from a member of FOM [Formula One Management] personnel.” That statement led to a robust response from Mercedes, the Wolffs and later the remaining nine teams on the grid, with a further FIA statement two days later backtracking after review of FOM’s F1 Code of Conduct and F1 Conflict of Interest Policy.

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“I think all this story is quite embarrassing for the whole sport,” Vasseur told select media in Maranello. “The story started with an article in a newspaper — I don’t know if a ‘newspaper’ is the right word — and I think in this situation when you are speaking about individuals, you have to be careful about what you are saying…

“I think it would have been appropriate from the FIA to … they needed 24 hours between the announcement and the second announcement, so it would have made sense to use that 24 hours before the first announcement to avoid any bad conclusions.”

At a time when a new Concorde Agreement is set to be discussed between F1, the FIA and the teams, Vasseur says he doesn’t think the current situation is overly damaging on that front, but noted how the FIA statements brought all 10 teams together in Susie Wolff’s defense.

“After the … ‘incident’ of last week … at least the teams were very united. I think it was the first conclusion for me, that we were able to act together, and it’s not very often. Even Red Bull was supportive with Toto, we have to notice it!

“Honestly, I think it’s a good point for us to take a position and discuss with all of the other stakeholders. I think it’s the first time that the teams together showed something like this. For sure we know each time that the Concorde Agreement is a crucial one, but I think that we are in a much better situation today than we were five years ago.

“Five years ago, before COVID, when we signed the current Concorde Agreement, we have to keep in mind that we had four or five teams almost in bankruptcy. Today it’s not the same situation at all. The business is much more sustainable thanks to the cost cap, thanks to the prize fund distribution, and this for F1 is the guarantee of the stability for the future.

“Now you can always discuss about technical regulations, governance, prize fund distribution, but it will be marginal. It won’t impact the sport, it won’t impact the business, it won’t impact Formula 1.

“Five years ago I think it was a completely different situation. I’m not sure without the financial regulations we would have been able to attract Audi, for example. A couple of new investors joined F1, mainly due to the Concorde Agreement and the financial regulations. It means now I think we are on the right path. We just have to work together, and to work together in serenity.”

Vasseur says Ferrari expectations at start of 2023 were too high

Team principal Fred Vasseur takes pride in the way Ferrari battled back after a difficult start to the Formula 1 season, particularly in the wake of preseason expectations that he believes were unrealistic. Ferrari won two of the first three races …

Ferrari won two of the first three races in 2022 and was the closest challenger to Red Bull before fading as the year went on, finishing a distant second in the constructors’ championship. Although it had been looking to close the gap further under a new team principal following the departure of Mattia Binotto, Vasseur (pictured at right, above, with Charles Leclerc) says it didn’t take long for Ferrari to realize it wasn’t in a position to regularly fight for wins again.

“For sure, I think the level of expectation was a bit too high at the beginning of the season and we understood quickly the situation,” Vasseur said. “I think after a couple of laps in Bahrain — and even a couple of laps in the simulator before leaving to go to Bahrain.

“But what I would keep in mind this season is the reaction of the team, that we had tough moments but remember after Jeddah or Miami or Spain or Zandvoort — Zandvoort is not so long ago and we were almost lapped. I think that we, compared to Zandvoort, collectively made a huge step forward and this is good for the future.”

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Vasseur saw encouraging signs from both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at different stages of the season, noting that only Max Verstappen enjoyed a consistent level of performance.

“We had different momentum through the year,” he said. “I think it is true that Carlos was very, very strong after the summer break and Charles was flying at the last six or seven events. But overall, I think the dynamic that we added to the team was a good one.

“I don’t think we have to keep in mind the race [in Abu Dhabi] for Carlos because overall, he won in Singapore, and in Monza he did pretty well. So, overall, the season is not one day. Except Max, everybody on the grid has been up and down this season and because it is very tight, sometimes with one-tenth or one-tenth-and-a-half [second’s difference] because you like the track or you like the setup of the car on this day, you can move from P2 or P3 to P10 and it is almost a disaster. But we have to stay calm to the approach and it is not that we missed something.”

Vasseur sure Ferrari played its hand correctly in Mercedes fight

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur disputed a suggestion that his team played “too fair” with Mercedes at the end of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in its battle for second place in the constructors’ championship. Charles Leclerc was running second ahead …

Charles Leclerc was running second ahead of George Russell, but needed the Mercedes driver to drop to fourth in order for Ferrari to finish as the runner-up to Red Bull. Once Sergio Perez — who had a five-second time penalty — overtook Russell, Leclerc slowed to give the Mexican DRS on the final lap in the hope he’d pull five seconds clear, but opted against trying to directly back Russell up himself.

“Too fair? I don’t think so,” Vasseur said. “That’s because you could imagine, to block Russell, then you have also to be sure that Perez is in between you and Russell. If you want to block Russell, it’s a matter of hundreds of seconds.

“I’m not a big fan of this. We did our best in a fair way when we let Perez go, to give him the DRS, to try to help us, but too much would have been too much.”

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In the end, when Perez’s penalty was applied he dropped from second place on the road back to fourth, finishing 1.1s behind Russell and ensuring Mercedes held Ferrari off by just three points.

The focus was on Leclerc’s approach because teammate Carlos Sainz failed to recover into the points after a Q1 exit in Abu Dhabi, but Vasseur says it was other races earlier in the year that proved costly in the fight against Mercedes.

“For sure Carlos was off the pace — that is clear and we have to understand why. But honestly, it’s not [in Abu Dhabi] that we missed something,” he said. “If you have a look on the championship, I think we had a tough event. We had Miami, we had Zandvoort in terms of pace and we had some events when we had a reliability issue, and this was much more painful than [Abu Dhabi].

“We had a strong pace as a team that we are able to fight for the pole position … We fight with the Red Bull almost all the race. I’m not sure that it’s [in Abu Dhabi] that we missed something.”

Sainz agrees, saying Abu Dhabi showed a weakness that Ferrari has had all season when it came to its tire usage, leaving him unable to fight his way back into the points.

“We started on the hard, expecting the hard to help us do a one-stop,” Sainz said. “Again, like we’ve seen many times this year, whenever we start on harder compounds, we struggle a lot. We had nothing to lose starting 16th and we gave it a go, but in the end again it didn’t work for us.

“The harder compounds — at the beginning of the race with dirty air and the sliding — just doesn’t work for us. Once we saw that we had very little chance of scoring points, we left it out for a safety car and it didn’t work out. Also, we had to retire in the end with a PU issue so it’s not like it would have changed much.”

FIA warns Wolff and Vasseur over press conference language

Mercedes and Ferrari team principals Toto Wolff and Fred Vasseur have both been warned over their language during the Las Vegas Grand Prix. The pair both dropped f-bombs at different stages of the FIA press conference that had immediately followed …

Mercedes and Ferrari team principals Toto Wolff and Fred Vasseur have both been warned over their language during the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

The pair both dropped f-bombs at different stages of the FIA press conference that had immediately followed the cancelled FP1 session in Vegas, amid multiple questions about the track defect that had damaged Carlos Sainz’s car. Vasseur stated that “We f***d-up the session for Carlos” when being pushed about the event, while Wolff responded to an off-microphone comment from a reporter with: “And then you’re speaking about a f***ing drain cover that’s been undone, that has happened before.”

Both were summoned to see the stewards in Abu Dhabi — with this weekend’s stewards hearing their explanations — and issued with formal warnings for their use of language, although both were given leniency over certain aspects.

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For Wolff, the stewards determined that: “Based on the submission from the team principal, the use of the language concerned was in this case unusual and was provoked by an abrupt interjection during the press conference and therefore cannot be regarded as typical from this team principal.”

Although Vasseur regularly swears in interviews or in general conversation, the stewards also took into account how soon after the expensive incident with Sainz the press conference was taking place.

“In this case, the team principal was extremely upset and frustrated by the incident that had occurred in FP1 and that language such as this, by him, was not usual.”