Frederic Vasseur insists he will never play a “game” like Christian Horner and Toto Wolff do

While he has "full respect" for both Christian Horner and Toto Wolff, Frederic Vasseur insists he will never play the political "game" like them.

Frederic Vasseur insists he will never play a “game” like Christian Horner and Toto Wolff do

Frederic Vasseur

Frederic Vasseur is Ferrari’s new team principal. The position can be seen as a “poisoned chalice” as it is possibly the “hottest” seat in motorsport. There is no room for error, and there is only one goal at Ferrari – to win. Unfortunately, they haven’t been doing that a lot lately. So, the pressure is high – not only within the organization, but in the media, and from the people as well.

Everything is bigger at Ferrari: When you win, there’ll be songs sung of you. But when you lose, you’ll be buried alive. Vasseur will obviously hope it will be the former that happens to him. The Italian team hasn’t won a single title since 2008 – nor the Drivers’, nor the Constructors’ title. While the Frenchman has a lot of previous experience, Ferrari is a different beast. But there is also another thing to consider: Political games – both internal, and the ones that happen between teams.

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Christian Horner and Toto Wolff were locked into a spat for the entirety of 2021, and Mattia Binotto also entered into this in 2022. But of course, there are times when teams need to work together. On this, Vasseur said as per Formel1.de: “We’re competitors 90 per cent of the time and competition is important and I’ll never give that up. But sometimes, for the good of Formula 1 or for the good of all the teams, we have to work together.”

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He continued: “If you look at what has happened over the past few months, I think the relationship – and I don’t want to talk about the game between Toto and Horner – but I think the collaboration between the teams is positive.” and when asked if he will be getting involved in such a “game”, the Frenchman replied: “No, I will never do that. I have full respect for Mr. Horner, I have full respect for Toto, but I will never play that kind of game.”

Read More: Fred Vasseur downplays reports of Charles Leclerc seeking a meeting with the Ferrari President

Frederic Vasseur has spoken to Ferrari legend Jean Todt

Frederic Vasseur (L) Jean Todt (R)
Frederic Vasseur (L) Jean Todt (R)

The last Frenchman to be in charge of Ferrari (before Frederic Vasseur) was Jean Todt. Under him, Ferrari won 8 Constructors’ and 6 Drivers’ championships. It’s going to be hard for anyone to live up to that. But one can certainly try – Vasseur will hope he can “revive” Ferrari again, just like his compatriot had. He also revealed that he has spoken to Todt.

But of course, something that worked for Todt in the 2000s won’t necessarily for Vasseur today. So, the new Ferrari boss said: “We spoke to each other a few times, but to be honest, you can’t compare it to what happened. I have worked with Jean in various aspects for a long time and he has been a part of my life for 25 years. And we will have time to discuss it with him. But I don’t want to make a comparison. I think Jean is very smart, he knows exactly what worked five or ten years ago.”

Time will tell how Vasseur will fare at Ferrari. After one race, there have already been rumors of a rift between him and Benedetto Vigna, and a power struggle. However, he’s denied that – and said that he has decision-making power at Ferrari that he has had nowhere else.

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