Ferrari’s President Defends Vasseur And Anticipates Sainz As The Champion

The president of Ferrari was present at the 2023 Las Vegas Formula 1 Grand Prix to follow in person the show that Liberty Media had put on in the American city and, as he usually does, he chose a single media outlet to give an interview too.

It was the turn of the BBC, where the number one of the Prancing Horse defended the figure of Fred Vasseur, who received the call at the beginning of the year to replace Mattia Binotto: “I couldn’t be happier, because Ferrari is advancing to 100% in the right direction, seeing the positive change I expected.”

One of the aspects that John Elkann highlighted is how the team, under the direction of the Frenchman, is “much more united, so much so that there are people with incredible talent who want to go to Ferrari, and that is a very strong signal.” The president of the Italians especially attributes two merits to the director of the team, since there is no longer the hunt for a culprit when a mistake is made, but rather they assume responsibility.

“Responsibility, that is our thinking, is very important because it is one of the determining factors that has allowed our competitors to do well, and we must add agility, even though they are very large organizations,” he commented. “They tend to be faster structures in development, and Fred [Vasseur] had those attributes since he had worked in motorsport all his life and has had a lot of success in different categories.”

“Even in Formula 1 I had managed smaller teams [Sauber and Renault],” he explained. “Vasseur therefore brought with him the culture of responsibility and agility of someone who had been in more effective and agile structures – that is something we lacked compared to our stronger rivals.”

Not only that, but Ferrari won the 24 Hours of Le Mans with the 499P, and the feeling that the Prancing Horse has given is that there is a single company and that there are no internal divisions, between Gestione Sportiva and the other departments: “Now “We have a very clear organization, we are one company and we are proud to be so, something that we have tried to promote especially in recent years.”

Another indication of the growth of those from Maranello is the pit stops: “In 2020 we had a really bad season, and I was surprised that we did worse in the classification of stops in the pitlane than in the championship. That was an indicator of a mentality wrong because in the end to win you have to be good at everything.

“And it is true that if you do not have a competitive car, the rest will not help you win, but if you do not have the right mentality, it is difficult to overcome and achieve something,” commented the president of the brand. In 2022, tire changes under three seconds were 80%, while this year they rose to 88%, to be, only behind Red Bull, the best, and that is something that John Elkann attributes to Diego Loverno, the sports director who replaced Laurent Mekies.

The fact that Maranello could once again be attractive to foreign engineers may be another growth factor: “The important thing is to have the best possible team, having women and men of different nationalities and origins is very appreciated by us.” “Our identity is Italian, but that is not at all a disadvantage, on the contrary, it is a base on which we can integrate very strong talents from different places,” commented the head of the legendary structure that has reaped so much in motorsports.

John Elkann praised the work done by the team after Carlos Sainz’s manhole incident: “I liked the reaction, the team was fast, they worked very hard and repaired the car, which allowed Carlos [Sainz] to go strong in the race. classification. That is the attitude you have to have, and it will be important to grow in 2024.”

However, it is still not clear whether the same driver line-up will continue beyond that year: “Carlos is a very strong driver who has enormous potential, and there is no reason why he should not become world champion. We believe that our plans are good, and we have the potential to go strong, we will have to be able to work to convert the potential into real results.”

To do this, those from Maranello will have to deal with a Red Bull and a Max Verstappen who seem superior: “If they dominate, it means that they are very good, and that is good because the sport aspires to push to reach the best, but if “No one seems capable of catching them, that’s not good. Although now the panorama seems more open, in the last race in Abu Dhabi there are many positions at stake, and that’s good, the more competitive you are, the better.”