Fred Vasseur has insisted that he is happy with the steps that Ferrari have taken during his first season as team principal at Maranello. However, the Frenchman explained that his team have to be more aggressive if they are to close the gap to reigning champions Red Bull and take the fight to Max Verstappen.
Ferrari showed glimpses of returning to World Championship winning form at the start of the 2022 season when they raced out of the blocks with a one-two finish in Bahrain, but the Prancing Horse quickly fell away as Verstappen dominated the second half of the campaign en route to his second title.
2023 was even more straightforward for the 26-year-old, who won 19 of the 22 Grands Prix on offer as he broke countless records during his third successive Drivers’ Championship triumph. Ferrari, meanwhile, claimed just a single race win as Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore denied Red Bull a historic clean sweep.
Discussing his time with Ferrari thus far, Vasseur explained: “You have a group of people working together for years, and when you arrive in this group, you need to understand how the group is working before taking any action or decision.
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“My job was more to back the team on the fact that we have to be aggressive, that we have to take risks and be ambitious and not be scared of an incident or something like this. I think we did make a step on this.
“You don’t need to have the F1 of a few years ago when the Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes were able to go into Q2 with a set of Mediums in Q1. This is behind us, and won’t happen again.
“You always have to be at the limit, and I think this culture, when Red Bull are performing at the limit and aggressive on every single topic is a direction we have to take, but we did a good step for year one.”
Despite championing the need for aggressive decisions, Vasseur has remained neutral but decisive on the matter of his driver line-up. Unlike most teams on the grid, the former Alfa Romeo team principal has insisted that both Sainz and team-mate Charles Leclerc will be treated equally with Ferrari often deciding against team orders in 2023.
The Italian constructor is fighting against a Red Bull machine that is organised and fitted around Verstappen’s every need. The reigning world champion was nigh-on unstoppable last season and will be the man for Ferrari to beat in 2024, should they make up the necessary ground over the winter break.
