Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari’s Team Principal, admitted he cannot be satisfied with the current situation at the Scuderia ahead of the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
After having a flying start for their 2022 Formula 1 season and despite faltering as the season progressed, Ferrari were adamant they would make things right in 2023, but from the look of things this years, the team seems to be in worse form, still struggling with excessive tyre degradation, reliability problems, while their strategy is yet to be properly tested.
However, Fred Vasseur remains optimistic Ferrari can turn things around, regardless of his dissatisfaction with the situation at the team he now leads.
Vasseur told Formula 1‘s Official Website that the performance of the team’s SF-23 is “almost in the window we were expecting”, compared to their winter simulations.
However the Frenchman added: “I can’t be satisfied with the situation and I want to do a step forward.
“The characteristics of Jeddah are completely different compared to the previous one, to Bahrain, in terms of grip, velocity, layout of the track and so on, it’s a completely different story.
“Already it will swing a little bit more to what we have today. And then we’ll also bring some updates in Jeddah, and I hope we do a step forward,” he said.
Commenting on the leap in performance Aston Martin displayed in 2023, Vasseur said: “It’s true that they did a huge step forward compared to one year ago.
“I think in Jeddah last year, they were out of Q1 with both cars. It’s a huge step forward and congratulations to them. Honestly, I don’t want to be focused on Aston, Mercedes or Red Bull.
“My job is to be focused on the team and focused on myself. It’s an encouraging situation because it means you can do these steps forwards in a couple of months, so it’s encouraging for us,” the Ferrari boss maintained.
Vasseur doesn’t mind the pressure, but wants to shield his team
Ferrari have been in the headlines lately, as various Italian media outlets have been reporting tensions between Vasseur and his boss, Ferrari CEO Benedetto Vigna, while also reporting that Charles Leclerc is disenchanted after his DNF in Bahrain, even meeting with Chairman John Elkann to discuss the situation.
With the pressure mounting on his team Vasseur said: “In Ferrari, you have the pressure from the country and from the press.
“This is true, and this is different compared to every single other team, I think if you compare the situation today. But in the other end, sometimes you are also under pressure.
“I remember perfectly the story when I was with Sauber at the beginning, fighting with Manor,” he reflected. “I think the pressure for Manor was much, much bigger than the pressure at Ferrari today, because they were fighting for their future. It’s always relative.
“For sure, I can perfectly understand the enthusiasm and the passion around the team, and this is creating a kind of pressure, but the pressure for me, it’s not a big issue.
“The issue is probably more on the team itself that I want to avoid having this kind of pressure on the employees, because it is completely unproductive,” Vasseur insisted in conclusion.
Ferrari confirmed on Thursday that Leclerc will serve a 10-plac grid penalty in Sunday’s race around Jeddah Corniche Circuit for taking a third Electronic Control Unit on his SF-23, after going through the full allowed allocation in Bahrain – two per season.