Ferrari has mega room for improvement ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP: Frederic Vasseur
Vasseur believes that their 2023 challenger can still be competetive and says there is hope for development
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Fred Vassuer
Ferrari’s season start has been a disaster, with Charles Leclerc retiring on lap 41 owing to an engine issue and Carlos Sainz dealing with major tyre wear. This has led to dissatisfaction within the team’s higher management, with reports of important people quitting the squad circulating. Now, with Charles receiving a ten-place grid penalty in only the second race of the season, Ferrari is off to a sluggish start.
Speculations of key staff leaving the team, notably Laurent Meckeis and David Sanchez, have surfaced. And upper-level officials are said to be displeased, and Charles Leclerc has also requested a crisis meeting with President John Elkann. This stems from the fact that he only has two years remaining on his contract and needs assurance from the president.
Despite the shaky start, new team head Fred Vasseur is optimistic about Ferrari’s future. While the vehicle had balance and tyre degradation concerns in Bahrain, Vasseur feels there is still plenty of space for development. “We struggled a bit with the balance over the weekend, it means that we have mega room for improvements on this path with our package,” he explained. “With what we had in Bahrain, I think we had a lot of room for improvement in terms of driveability.”
Vasseur dismisses Ferrari’s troubles as being limited to Bahrain
Vasseur also pointed out that Bahrain is not always a representative track and that Ferrari is still in the early stages of developing its car. “It means that we did three days of testing and the race in Bahrain, only on one track, and we need to have a better understanding of the car itself to try to get the best from the package we have,” he said.
When asked about Sainz‘s remarks concerning Ferrari’s heavy tyre wear, Vasseur blamed it on the bumpy tarmac in Bahrain and his drivers’ efforts to compensate for the team’s lack of performance. “Part of the explanation is coming from Bahrain, because it’s very aggressive, and probably this is increasing all the parameters,” he said. “And it’s true also that if you have lack of pace, you have to push more to stay into the maximum of your pace, and you are damaging more everything.”
The new team head, Fred Vasseur, has dismissed speculations of staff departures, claiming that they were close to his predecessor, Mattia Binotto and that it doesn’t affect him. Vasseur, on the other hand, has reportedly irritated CEO Benedetto Vigna by travelling to and from the Bahrain Grand Prix with Mercedes boss Toto Wolff, something Vigna does not like. Vasseur, on the other hand, remains confident about Ferrari’s future possibilities. Vasseur is optimistic that Ferrari can considerably improve in Jeddah, with updates scheduled for the Saudi Arabia race and a track configuration that should suit the team’s capabilities.
“The characteristics of Jeddah are completely different compared to the previous one to Bahrain in terms of grip, in terms of rugosity, layout of the track and so that it’s completely different story,” he said. “Already it will suit a little bit more to what we have today. And then we’ll also bring some updates to Jeddah and I hope that we’ll do a step forward.”
Vasseur has also emphasized that Ferrari is taking a methodical approach to improving its performance. “We had a clear analysis of what we did in Bahrain. For sure we have a long list of things that we have to improve,” he said. “I hope that already in Jeddah we’ll be able to have a first reaction.” Notwithstanding the team’s breakdown at the start of the season, Vasseur’s faith in Ferrari signals that better days are coming for the Scuderia.
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