Frederic Vasseur is pleased how Ferrari were able to react and not overreact after the F1 2023 start, as he notes how he calculated the points they lost.
Vasseur endured what could be called a Baptism of Fire in his first season as top man at Maranello. A great start to 2022 season saw Charles Leclerc launch a serious title challenge to Max Verstappen but in the end, fate decreed otherwise.
The 2023 campaign saw everyone chasing the Milton Keynes outfit but Ferrari fared a lot better than most taking a win at Singapore in the hands of Carlos Sainz. It was the first season for Vasseur at the helm as he took over from Mattia Binotto.
There were a lot of things that Vasseur was told to or he perceived from outside before coming in. He gives an in-depth account and analysis of how things panned out from the expectations he had and the eventual lessons he learnt.
“The main lesson is that everybody told me [before I arrived] that at Ferrari you will start the season very well and then it’s going downhill,” said Vasseur to media. “Trust me, after Jeddah or Melbourne, I said ‘What the f—, if this was the good part of the season we will be in big trouble!’
“But the lesson is that we were able to react and the perception that you have from an external point of view of Ferrari is probably wrong. When I was outside I was always thinking that the team will overreact to every single event, but the team was very, very calm after Melbourne.
“We were cautious of the situation and the weaknesses of the car but I think we had a good attitude to tackle it. We took it step-by-step and I think the reaction was a good one. I think it’s a good lesson that even when you are in trouble in our business you have to stay calm and to build up the pace step-by-step,” summed up Vasseur.
For Ferrari, once more on occasion, their strategy undertaken came under scrutiny. Of course, all nine teams were chasing Red Bull, a fact not lost on Vasseur not is the fact they can learn from the 2023 campaign.
“The mistake would be to imagine that Red Bull, they have a magic bullet of five tenths or that we made a step on something,” Vasseur continued. “The performance is coming from everywhere into the company, on the fact that we are able to produce parts quicker, on we have a better reliability.
“We gave up too many points this season for different reasons, for reliability, for disqualification in Austin, for impeding in quali, but this is clearly where we have to work. And we have to improve on aero, on engine, on every single topic. It’s not that we have something wrong and something good and you fix something and you are making a step of four or five tenths.
“The most important is that the one thousand people we have into the team are convinced that they are all contributor and they are all trying to push a little bit the limit, even if it’s for one thousands of seconds which are enough then to do a huge step. I’m more than pleased because between Zandvoort and now, we didn’t change massively the car.
“We had an upgrade in Japan I think, but basically we kept the same car and we were able to do a much better job with a better understanding of the car, better set-up of the car and a better approach from the drivers. We have room for improvement everywhere and this feeling is a good one to develop something for next year,” summed up Vasseur.
It is good that the Maranello based outfit have an element of confidence going into this season. At the halfway point of last season, Ferrari had been to a degree wasteful of opportunities that came their way. Notwithstanding that they had problems in Qatar and Brazil.
These issues were noticed by Vasseur, he was quick to point out a lot of positivity where the team were, not just that as he also noticed where they need markedly improve this season and more. “We started on the wrong foot in Bahrain,” he said. “When we had to stop, we were P3 and the penalty for the second race.
“It meant for Charles it was almost 25 points of penalty. Plus the points that we were giving to the others with the two Mercedes that were behind us. But again, it is not only this one – you can do the list. Trust me, I have done the list a couple of times and have it in my head the classification without the issues and overall, I think that you have ups and downs during the season.
“For sure, we gave up more points than our competitors and that means it is another topic that we need to work on for next year, to be more opportunistic and more efficient,” summed up Vasseur. Ferrari certainly had their ups and downs in 2023 but so did the other teams who were chasing Red Bull. They must not lose sight though that they a lot better than most and the team should not lose sight of this.
Here’s F1 2023 teams’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-teams-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/
Here’s F1 2023 drivers’ tier order: https://formularapida.net/f1-2023-drivers-categorised-in-tier-system-for-their-performances/
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