Fred Vasseur – Page 2 – Syndication Server

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.”

Ferrari to discuss compensation for Sainz damage

Ferrari will discuss potential compensation for the damage to Carlos Sainz’s car in FP1 at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, with team principal Fred Vasseur angered by race control’s handling of the situation. Sainz hit a loose water valve cover at full …

Sainz hit a loose water valve cover at full speed on the Strip. suffering damage that Vasseur says runs into the millions of dollars. However, it’s not just the fact that the cover wasn’t secure enough to remain in place that has upset Ferrari, with Vasseur saying the fact race control took a long time to red flag the session played a part in the incident.

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“We’ll have time next week to discuss about this,” Vasseur said. “I think it was not a very fair decision (to penalize Sainz) due to the circumstances, it was very harsh for Carlos, very harsh for the team and we will have to discuss about the circumstances of the incident.

“Also because it’s not just about the cover coming up it’s also for me that we had one minute between the yellow flag and the red flag. It means that when they put out the yellow flag they saw something on track, and it took one minute for them to put out the red flag. I think it’s too much.

“It’s not an easy one to give a set of tires or to give an engine because it’s a gain in performance. But battery, there is no performance in the battery. Considering that we missed FP1, we had a couple of million in damage, the mechanics worked like hell to come back, I think it was not too stupid to consider the case of force majeure.”

Vasseur says there was no warning from race control about what the reason was for the yellow flag before Sainz hit the loose cover.

“No, no, they didn’t at all. We didn’t know the reason. The main issue for me on this case is that when you put out the first yellow flag it means you saw something. You don’t put out the yellow flag out by anticipation. It means that whoever put out the yellow flag, and whoever put it on my board – this is coming from race control – it means they saw something. It then took one minute to put out the red flag when it was the straight and you have a metallic item at 340kph…

“(Compensation) will be a private discussion that I will have with the stakeholders of this, but I’m a bit more upset with the way of managing it rather than with the incident itself.

“The incident we have precedents in the past, even in Monaco which is the top of the top of street circuits – we had this kind of incident a few years ago, I think on the curb at the exit of Turn 1 – we had the case in Malaysia, we had the case in Baku twice, at the pit entry with Bottas and with Russell. I think this is difficult to anticipate and to fix. Then the way you manage the incident is another story.”

Furious Vasseur slams ‘unacceptable’ track issue

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur was left furious by the “unacceptable” track issue that led to Carlos Sainz sustaining heavy damage at the start of FP1 and miss the second session at the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Sainz struck a loose drain cover …

Sainz struck a loose drain cover at 200mph and stopped on track, with Esteban Ocon having also suffered a similar issue that led to the session being red flagged after eight minutes and then called off. Vasseur was left fuming at the cost of the incident, that led to multiple expensive items needing to be replaced by Ferrari

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“The situation is we damaged the monocoque completely – the engine, the batteries… and I think it’s just unacceptable,” Vasseur said. “We had a very tough FP1, it cost us a fortune, we f****d up the session for Carlos, we won’t be part of the FP2 for sure. We have to change the chassis, half the car, to set-up the car… OK the show is the show and everything is going well but I think it’s just unacceptable for the F1 today.”

However, Vasseur stated he didn’t feel it was an issue with the Las Vegas event itself, viewing track homologation as a separate matter that shouldn’t reflect poorly on the event.

“We don’t have to mix everything. I think the show is mega and I’m very happy with what Liberty did around the race and I think it’s a huge step forward for F1. We have to separate what is the show and the sporting side.

“The show is mega, I was in the paddock club yesterday when they did the ceremony and it was something that I never saw before… I think it was something mega for F1. But it’s not because we are doing this that you don’t have to do the job on the sporting side.

“I think it’s two separate things. I don’t want to mix everything and to say they were cheap on the sporting side because they did the show, it’s not true. You can do the show and do a good job on the sporting side, it’s two separate things.

“This happened in Monaco a couple of years ago. I remember in Baku, 2019, I remember we had a couple of occasions like this. Again, I was really convinced before FP1 that the event was mega for the F1, and I’m still convinced, and we have to continue in this direction.

“I remember for Zandvoort when they added music into the grandstands, everybody had to copy them the race after. I think it will do a step forward in the right direction from Vegas, and everybody perhaps can’t do the same standard but will go in that direction in terms of show.

“We have to take care of the sporting side. It’s a completely different story. It’s not because we are doing the show that… for sure I’m frustrated. I’m always scared because Carlos hit the metallic part at 320kph and it could have been much worse.”

McLaren team principal Zak Brown expressed sympathy with both Ferrari and Alpine, but says the most important matter now is ensuring there is no repeat for the rest of the weekend.

“First of all, any time you have an incident, first we’ve got to fix it and then look back and go, ‘How did it happen?’” Brown said. “Whether that’s a track issue, or a problem you have with your car, whatever the case may be, I think it would be unfair and quick to judge that corners were cut. This has happened before, it’s happened in Baku, I remember when it happened in sports car racing in Montreal many years ago.

“So it’s an unfortunate incident, I don’t think it’s because effort wasn’t put in or corners were cut, it’s just that somehow they got it wrong. Right now we just need to focus on fixing it and then look back and go, ‘How did we get it wrong?’ and I’m sure it was an engineering issue that will get solved. But they’ve spared no expense on the entire event, so I think they just got it wrong.”

Intrateam competition pushing Ferrari forward – Vasseur

A positive competition between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is helping Ferrari improve its level of performance, according to team principal Fred Vasseur. Sainz held off teammate Leclerc for a podium in Monza having qualified on pole position, …

A positive competition between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz is helping Ferrari improve its level of performance, according to team principal Fred Vasseur.

Sainz held off teammate Leclerc for a podium in Monza having qualified on pole position, and duly followed that up with victory from pole in Singapore. Leclerc responded with a strong fourth place in Japan and while Vasseur says there hasn’t been one clear moment that Ferrari has made a step forward in recent races, instead the drivers have helped push the team in the right direction.

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“We have to avoid coming to conclusions too quickly,” Vasseur said. “Before the break in Spa we were also in good shape, Charles started from pole position – qualified on the first row – and did a good race. As it’s a matter of hundreds of seconds, sometimes you do a small step and you have the feeling that everything has changed but it’s not exactly the reality.

“But it’s a sport and in the end we can accept that one is doing a better job than the other from weekend to weekend. I think that we have a positive competition and this is also helping us to improve.”

One area Ferrari appears stronger is with tire usage after not suffering from degradation issues during the Japanese Grand Prix, something Vasseur says has been improved since the opening races.

“It’s a step forward compared to the beginning of the season but on the other hand we were probably a bit too conservative (at Suzuka). I think it was true of everybody on the grid but we were more scared than the reality. But it was okay, it was under control in the race and I think it’s been a good step forward in this regard.

“If you have a look at the first couple of races of the season, the degradation or the tire management was not always our biggest skill. Coming to Suzuka with the track temps we were a bit anxious but I think at the end of the day we did a good job on this side.

“The race was under control, the strategy was well managed and we did well. It’s a clear step forward compared to the first part of the season.”

Vasseur’s first Ferrari win caps off recovery push from Jeddah

Team principal Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s recovery since early in the season is something to be proud of after continuing to build confidence with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix. Ferrari struggled in Saudi Arabia in just the second round of …

Team principal Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s recovery since early in the season is something to be proud of after continuing to build confidence with victory in the Singapore Grand Prix.

Ferrari struggled in Saudi Arabia in just the second round of the season, finishing over half a minute off the pace in sixth and seventh, but Vasseur says the reaction to that has been impressive, with it culminating in his first win as team principal courtesy of Carlos Sainz at the Marina Bay Street Circuit on Sunday.

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“Honestly, it was a strange feeling for me on the pit wall, because I was not too stressed the last couple of laps,” Vasseur said. “I was much more stressed when I watch back the last couple of laps when I was out of the race than during the race, and perhaps that’s the feeling that Carlos was really under control of the situation.

“On the podium it was a bit emotional because it was the first one. But at this stage, I was more thinking about what we did from Jeddah. Jeddah was a tough weekend for us, and we had a very good recovery after Jeddah, good teamwork. I think we built up the confidence step by step and the pace. I’m more than proud for the job done by the factory and the team guys.

“For sure it’s difficult, if you compare with Zandvoort, to imagine that we would be in such good shape in Singapore. But I think it’s also linked to the fact that we had a good weekend at Monza, from lap one, FP1.

“We built up the confidence in Monza, and Singapore is also the consequence of this one. The fact that we have Carlos so quick at the beginning of the weekend was also very helpful to us, and he did a very good job from the first lap to the last one. And with Charles (Leclerc), we had (good information) and it’s the best way to improve.”

While much of the race went to plan for Ferrari as it started Leclerc on soft tires to help him jump George Russell off the line and be able to protect race leader Sainz, Vasseur was impressed with the way the Spaniard used Lando Norris in the closing stages without his teammate nearby.

“It was the idea of Carlos. I don’t want to say (anything against McLaren) but he knew that he was more at risk with Mercedes than with Norris. With Norris we had the same tires and almost the same pace from lap one, and we were not really at risk with Norris except if we lost the tire. It was a clever move from Carlos to keep Norris in the DRS.”

No team orders was the right call at Monza, says Ferrari’s Vasseur

Fred Vasseur said he was proud of Ferrari’s approach in allowing Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to fight throughout the Italian Grand Prix, and of how the drivers responded. Sainz had started from pole position with Leclerc third, and the pair …

Fred Vasseur said he was proud of Ferrari’s approach in allowing Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to fight throughout the Italian Grand Prix, and of how the drivers responded.

Sainz had started from pole position with Leclerc third, and the pair raced closely with Max Verstappen before he took the lead on lap 15. After another battle with Sergio Perez, the pair were then left to contest the final podium position at Ferrari’s home race without the intervention of team orders.

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“If I froze the positions, you would have exactly the same question – why did you freeze the situation?” Vasseur said. “For sure, it’s much easier to comment when you have a happy ending, but it was also the best way to thank everybody for the support of the Tifosi.

“On this I want to have the last call, and I told them no risks. You can race, but no risks. Of course, that is all relative, but I was much more comfortable with this situation than to freeze something.”

Sainz was the driver coming under pressure regularly but says Ferrari had already discussed how the outright pace of each car could be clouded by the impact of DRS and the slipstream at Monza, while still understanding the importance of a top three finish to each driver in front of so many Ferrari fans.

“We knew the car in DRS is always going to feel like it’s the quicker car, but we know that around this track, once you get into DRS you feel quicker and we knew that,” Sainz said. “At the same time, we know that we were both going to be fighting for a podium at Monza, so there was always going to be a bit of a fight and a bit of a battle.

“In the end we kept it clean, there were a couple of nice moves here and there, tight battles, but I enjoyed, honestly, battling Max, battling Checo, battling Charles, I think it was a good day for F1, a good show. I just did everything I could to stay in front and it worked.”