Ferrari boss makes major admission over signing Max Verstappen and Adrian Newey

Linked to just about every big name in the paddock from Max Verstappen to Lewis Hamilton to Adrian Newey, Fred Vasseur says “for sure” Ferrari wants them, but it’s about the group, not the individual.

Reportedly losing Charles Leclerc to either Mercedes or Aston Martin and Carlos Sainz to Audi, but bringing in Max Verstappen from Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes, Ferrari are doing okay according to the latest silly season speculation.

Their technical team is also on the up and up with Adrian Newey, at least until he re-signed with Red Bull, heading over to Maranello too.

谈论一个梦之队甚至大于the Michael Schumacher, Ross Brawn, Jean Todt and Rory Byrne era.

None of that, though, has an ounce of fact behind it as Verstappen has a contract with Red Bull until 2028, Newey has re-signed an undisclosed contract with Red Bull and Lewis Hamilton, barring yet more rumours on top of rumours, is about to extend his Mercedes stay.

But it makes for good reading as even Vasseur will concede.

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“You have all the big names of F1. I’m asked very often the question about Max, Lewis, top engineers and so on,” he toldSky Sports.

“For sure [you would want them] but in the end it’s not like this, at the end you need to understand where you are weak and not and to then try to improve step by step.”

The Frenchman accepts that even bringing in a Newey or a Verstappen or Hamilton won’t fix Ferrari problems with the Scuderia needing to work as a whole to recover from their current troubles.

“I’m not sure that the big names in F1, if they are not part of the project from the beginning, do they add value?” he continued.

“如果他们加入这个团队,希望改变everything, you are speaking about two or three years, but it would be too long.

“I think we have a good structure. We have to reinforce the team for sure and we are on this way but it’s not just about big names.

“In the big teams today we are roughly 1,000 [employees] and I’m convinced the weight of the group is much more important than the weight of the individual.”

Ferrari have yet to win a grand prix this season, in fact they’ve managed just one podium in eight races leaving them a distant P4 in the Constructors’ Championship.