Team boss denies Ferrari are ‘weak’ as he embarks on recruitment drive
Fred Vasseur has rubbished suggestions his push to bring in outside expertise such as Loic Serra is any reflection on Ferrari’s current personnel.
Taking up the reins as Ferrari’s team boss back in January, Vasseur has made it his mission to bring in outside talent to bolster Ferrari’s technical departments as the Scuderia look to fight back from a 15-year title drought.
Initially chasing Red Bull’s Pierre Waché but without success, he turned his sights to Mercedes’ performance director Serra, who is expected to join the team in 2025, one of about 25 people moving over to Maranello.
Fred Vasseur determined to avoid future personnel problems
“We have hired about 25 people, but we are looking for more,” he told Gazzetta dello Sport. “We have signed with a leading name, which should start on 1 January 2025 butwe are trying to avoid that time.”
But don’t for a moment think Vasseur’s personnel drive is a criticism of the people currently working at Ferrari.
“It’s not that you are weak that you have to do something,” he said as per Motorsport.com. “It is that the DNA of the competition is that you have to improve.
“Even if the organisation is winning today, you need to have the mindset to do better. If, at one stage, you start to stop to improve, to wish to improve, you are dead.
“We are into this process. We are recruiting because we have still a margin with the cost cap and we will do it properly. It’s quite crucial for us to do this move.”
The Italian also clarified Ferrari’s team structure amidst confusion over Enrico Cardile’s role.
去年12月,Mattia Binotto辞去他的罗依le as Ferrari’s team boss but while that left a hole there, one Vasseur filled, his departure also left the role of technical director on the chassis side unfilled with Binotto said to have been doing that job.
But with his departure, Cardile effectively became the technical director although that was not confirmed by the Scuderia until today with Vasseur perplexed that there was any confusion at all.
“I don’t know where the story is coming from, because the organisation chart of the company is crystal clear,” he said.
“All the guys working on the chassis side are reporting at the end to Enrico Cardile, and for me, Enrico is the technical director.
“If you want to add something, he is the technical director of the chassis side and we have, in parallel, Enrico Gualtieri, who is the technical director of the engine side.”
Ferrari’s structure, though, has been questioned of late with the Scuderia going into their home race, the Italian Grand Prix, still chasing a first win of this season.
In fact, Ferrari have only managed three podiums and sit a distant fourth in theConstructors’ Championship.
Vasseur defended the division of two technical directors, one for the chassis and the other for the engine.
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“I had this question last week in Zandvoort when people asked about having two technical directors,” he said, “but I said it is like all the other F1 organisations: you have one technical director in Brackley, one in Brixworth. You have one in Viry-Chatillon and one in Enstone.
“You can’t have the same guy doing the technical director of the two sides. And at least on our side, it’s crystal clear that we have Enrico Cardile who is the technical director of chassis, and Enrico Gualtieri, technical director of the PU.
“I don’t know where the misunderstanding is coming from, because on paper, it’s crystal clear.”
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