On the 9th January Frederic Vasseur took on one of the most difficult roles in motorsport, when he replaced Mattia Binotto as Ferrari Team Principal. This week the Frenchman spoke to the media for the first time in the job, including RacingNews365.com , in his first test as leader of the famous scarlet red team. The 2022 season for Ferrari got off to a flying start when Charles Leclerc emerged as a clear title contender by winning two out of the first three races. But as the season went on, cracks in the Ferrari armour started to appear. Reliability was suddenly a concern, the car upgrades struggled to match Red Bull, and to top it off the teams pit wall strategy was often filled with errors that cost them victories. Vasseur is confronted with this reality, but laughs as he reassures people one of the core elements of his role. "Thanks! It's my job to do the analysis," he responds. "I joined two weeks ago and as you can imagine it's a very long process - I'm speaking mainly about the engine. "They [team] did a good job over the last couple of months and this is one part of the equation.
Ferrari to take strategic approach to car development
One of the other aspects of last year's F1-75 was the slow rate of upgrades on the car, which was largely attributed to the cost cap forcing them to cease development. According to Vasseur, the team will take a more a strategic approach to introducing car developments during the season to enable them to keep up with rivals. "It's very often a strategic choice now with the cost gap to decide if you want to be more focused on the new car or next year's one," he said. "I was not there [last year] and I wouldn't make any judgment of what's happened in the past. But we'll see during the season." Strategy has been the key weak point which has cost them victories in the past, something Vasseur will be reviewing as part of his early analysis. He continued: "When you are speaking about strategy or strategist, you only see the visible part of the iceberg. "And strategy is not just a matter of the guy who is at the top of the iceberg. It's about organisation, communication, the flow of communication on the pit wall, and we are in the process of reviewing everything."
Vasseur not afraid to intervene if people make blunders
The Hungarian Grand Prix perfectly encapsulated a title challenge that went wrong for Ferrari. Charles Leclerc described the race as "a disaster" when he surrendered the lead to Max Verstappen, due to the team's decision to put him on slower Hard tyres midway through the race. Vasseur says he will be trying to understand what happened with every single mistake to know where improvements can be made. "We are trying to understand exactly what's happened on every single mistake that happened last year to try to know if it's a matter of decision or organisation of communication," he explained. "Very often on the pit wall the biggest issue is more the communication and the number of people involved [in the decision-making process] than the individuals. "If you put too many people discussing about the same things, when you have the outcome of the discussion the car will be on the next lap! "You just need to have a clear flow of discussion and communication between the good people at the right position. But it's a work in progress." In the wake of any indecision on the pit wall, Vasseur says he is not afraid to intervene if necessary. "It's quite difficult I think to have a clear opinion of what's happening to the team when you're outside on that," he added. "But I will bring my own approach on this, that when I've done a mistake I'm the first one to say 'okay, my mistake' and when I have to take action, I take action." Can Vasseur become the first Team Principal since Jean Todt in 2007 to deliver a title-winning year for the Tifosi? Only time will tell.
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