Vasseur divulges added benefit to Hamilton's Ferrari arrival

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is confident Lewis Hamilton's arrival at the team will help attract F1 engineers from other teams.

With over half of the F1 grid having its base in the United Kingdom, Ferrari is in the minority group of teams that is set up elsewhere in the world.

Ferrari's headquarters in Maranello, Italy has served as its home throughout its history in F1, with many of its engineers hailing from the European country.

However, Vasseur believes that Hamilton, who will join Ferrari next year, will motivate engineers from outside of Italy to take on a role at the squad. 

“Lewis was an important symbol because it sends a positive message to the paddock for the future of the team,” Vasseur told the Financial Times.

“He had to make a choice: ‘Where do I have the biggest chance to win the world championship in 2025, ’26, ’27?’ And he said, ‘Ferrari’. 

“For us, [Hamilton’s arrival is] also the best way to attract good people. We have good people at Ferrari, but I want to reinforce. 

“Most [F1 technicians] are in the UK. If you move from Mercedes in Brackley to Red Bull in Milton Keynes you keep the children at the same school, you keep the same house. 

“From Friday to Monday, you can switch. Coming to Italy, it’s a different story. You have to move the family; it’s a change of life. The move of Lewis will help us.”

Ferrari 'not scared' of consequences to risks

Ferrari enjoyed a strong start to the ongoing F1 campaign, scoring two race victories in Australia and Monaco respectively.

Although the team has slipped back in the pecking order across the last handful of races, Vasseur has praised the team's aggressive approach it has recently adopted.

“If you are scared about the capacity of taking risk, you take margins everywhere,” he said.

“And, in our business, you can have five cars in one-tenth of a second. I spent the last 15 months pushing everybody. Because the more we take risks, the better we will be in the management of risks. I’m really pleased with the step forwards. 

“At Ferrari, we don’t have to be scared about the consequence of what we are doing. The team, perhaps in the past, was a bit scared about external forces.

“But it’s my job to manage this; to push them to be a bit more aggressive. And then to take on the mistakes when we are [making] mistakes.”