Ferrari’s tifosi expectation a positive pressure in F1, says Vasseur

Vasseur joined the Italian squad earlier this year in the wake of the resignation of former team principal Mattia Binotto. 

It is widely perceived outside of Ferrari that the politics within the walls of the Maranello factory can be quite intense, which is why there has been such a high turnover of team bosses in recent years. 

However, ahead of his first race in charge of the team, Vasseur does not think that getting on with his job at Ferrari is any harder than elsewhere. 

He does acknowledge though that there are external pressures on the squad that are unique because of the passionate tifosi. 

“I don't think it's more difficult than somewhere else,” he said, when asked by Autosport about how he had found dealing with the politics inside Ferrari. 

“What is true is the passion and the enthusiasm around the team is mega. When we did the launch two weeks ago, you have thousands of tifosi behind the fence, and I'm not sure that is the case anywhere else in the world.  

“The enthusiasm, you can feel it everywhere - you go to the hotel and you have fans and so on. This is putting a kind of pressure on. 

"Now, the question is if it's good pressure, a kind of motivation, and I'm taking it like this, or if it's something that will restrain the development? 

“Honestly, I think that it's positive. When you are doing this, you want to have this [pressure]. You can't do a show or a sport and try to be not exposed.  

“We know perfectly that in F1 you will have fans who will have expectations, and probably in Italy it's a bit bigger than somewhere else. But so far, it's okay.”

Frederic Vasseur, Team Principal and General Manager, Scuderia Ferrari

Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images

Vasseur has spent his first weeks in charge at Ferrari getting to understand the strengths and weaknesses of the organisation. 

He has already made some changes, such as a reshuffling of the strategy team following the mistakes that were made in 2022. 

And while he is determined to make the improvements Ferrari needs to win the title, he also thinks it would be wrong to change things for the sake of it. 

“We have to take it with humility,” he said about his approach. “The team was second in the world championship last year, and I don't have to join and change everything.  

“We have to do it step-by-step. I need to digest tonnes of things the last couple of weeks.  

“We will do small changes in the next few weeks because we have to improve. But it's not linked to Fred Vasseur or Ferrari. It's the DNA of our business.  

“If someone on the grid is satisfied with what he's doing, he is dead. It means that we always have to put it [problems] on the table, and to try to do a better job for the next race.  

“I think it has to be the mindset to try to get the best from the people that we have at the factory also. It's not just the parts that you can see on the track, it is also what we are doing at the factory to improve on every single area, because the performance is coming from there also.”