Why Vasseur relishes 'feeling the pressure' as Ferrari's F1 boss

By:

Jonathan Noble

Jan 27, 2023, 9:20 AM

OPINION: Fred Vasseur has spent only a few weeks as team principal for the Ferrari Formula 1 team, but is already intent on taking the Scuderia back to the very top. And despite it being arguably the most demanding job in motorsport, the Frenchman is relishing the challenge

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Many people would view putting on the Ferrari uniform as the marque’s Formula 1 team principal as a peak moment in their career. But, for newly appointed boss Fred Vasseur, his mindset is very different. As a man who has battled since the junior categories for racing victory, his target was never just to have a Prancing Horse logo on his chest. He wants to be up there on the podium with it as a winner.

This week, having had a fortnight to get his feet under the desk at Maranello, Vasseur spoke to the media for the first time about what he had found and what he expected. For those of us who have known Vasseur for a long time, he was both exactly the same man as he has always been but equally there were some differences.

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Jonathan Noble

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Jonathan Noble is Motorsport.com’s Formula 1 editor. Having graduated from University of Sussex Jonathan worked for sports news agency Collings Sports reporting on F1, F3, touring cars and other sports, with articles appearing in The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Reuters, Autosport and other publications. In 1999 he moved to Haymarket Publishing to become a senior editor at Autosport Special Projects, and one year later he became Autosport’s grand prix editor. In 2015 he moved to Motorsport Network, becoming the F1 editor for Motorsport.com. He is also a member of the Guild of Motoring Writers, and sits on the FIA Media Council.