(Motorsport) Scuderia Ferrari are the most successful team in Formula 1 history but haven’t won a title in over a decade, but that could possibly change in the 2023 season according to new team principal Fred Vasseur. The 54 year old began working with the Italian team on January 9th and has already started his analysis about the factors that derailed Scuderia Ferrari’s 2022 campaign.
“When you are in a top team, you can’t have another target than to win. You can’t start the season saying you are happy with P2 – it would be a lack of ambition. We have everything to do a good job and the target has to be to win. I am trying to understand exactly what happened on every single mistake last year and to try to know if it is a matter of decision, of organisation, of communication. Very often on the pit wall the biggest issue is more the communication and the number of people involved than the individuals.
“If you put too many people discussing 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 in the right position. It’s a work in progress. I trust the guys in place and I will try to put them in the best position to do the best job. Then it will be time after a couple of weeks or months to take action if it is not working.
“The performance of the engine was not an issue. The issue was reliability and the first target is to fix it. So far, it looks OK, but the reality of the track is a different thing. A couple of issues that the teams suffer – and it’s not just true for Ferrari – in terms of reliability are also coming from track operation, [aerodynamic] bouncing, and vibration. Everyone will have a much better idea [at the pre-season test] in Bahrain in a few weeks’ time.
“We made some forward steps but it is just about reliability. Development is very often a strategic choice with the cost cap to decide if you want to be more focused on the new car for the following season or the current one. I was not there and don’t want to make any judgments on what has happened in the past. But we will see during the season” – Fred Vasseur
However, the Italian said that Ferrari still has a lot to improve on if they are to be genuine title contenders as there were some glaring strategic and reliability issues in the 2022 season, which effectively ruled out Ferrari from the title race. Despite winning two of the first three races last year, Charles Leclerc, who had a 46 point lead over Max Verstappen simply couldn’t maintain the title challenge throughout the season. Vasseur moved to Ferrari from Alfa Romeo and is hopeful that his experience will pay off. The Italian has also been team boss of Renault in 2016 and has had a successful career in the junior categories as well.
Also read: Alfa Romeo appoint Alessandro Alunni Bravi as team representative
