Vasseur targets improvements to the team communication

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal and General Manager Frederic Vasseur has revealed that one of his main tasks will be to investigate Ferrari’s recent strategy mistakes in order to start the season in a more

After weeks of speculations, Ferrari has confirmed the departure of former team principal Mattia Binotto at the end of November. The Swiss-Italian left his position at the end of last year with former Alfa Romeo team boss Frederic Vasseur named as his replacement.

The 54-year-old Frenchman started to work in Maranello on 9th January and has embarked on a full immersion in the world of the Italian team since then, focussing on getting to know the team personnel and the dynamic of the working environment.

Speaking to the media for the first time since taking over Formula One’s arguably most difficult job, Vasseur has highlighted the importance of team communication that proved to be a major weakness of his Ferrari F1 team in 2022.

"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,” he said.

"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 about 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."

Speaking about the technical gains Ferrari have achieved over the winter, Vasseur added: “We made some steps but it is just about reliability. I think the performance of the engine was not an issue at all. The issue was the reliability, and the first target is to fix it.

“So far it looks OK, but the reality on the track is a different aspect. I think there are a couple of issues that the team suffered and it is not just true for Ferrari, but in terms of reliability it is also coming from the track operation, bouncing and vibration. Everybody will have a much better picture in Bahrain. I think and I hope that it’s under control today, that they did what looks to be a good job over the last couple of months.”

In the meantime, Ferrari completed a “wake-up” test this weekend at Fiorano running an SF21 car. Ferrari junior driver Robert Shwartzman got this year’s track activity underway for the Scuderia with Carlos Sainz taking over from the Russian driver on the second day of running.

On the third day, the five-time F1 race winner Monegasque took to the track at 10 o’clock on the dot for an installation lap on rain tyres, before switching to slicks. Leclerc was able to complete the 56 lap programme prior to the lunch break under the watchful eye of Vasseur and Sainz. In the afternoon, still on slicks, Leclerc brought the day’s total number of laps to 123, equivalent to 366 kilometres.