Ferrari’s new team principal, Frederic Vasseur says the sport’s most storied team have “everything to win”, but is still ready for a clean-out ahead of the first race of the 2023 season in Bahrain.
Ferrari “are in the process to review everything,” he said.
“It’s a bit short notice for me, but we’ll have to do some improvement.”
Ferrari have not tasted championship success since 2008, despite being the richest team on the grid.
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Despite winning two of the first three races last season under Mattia Binotto, Ferrari would eventually be plagued by reliability issues, as well as a bevy of strategic errors that saw Red Bull dominate both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings, and saw Binotto’s departure from the Scuderia.
Speaking to media on Thursday, the Frenchman said progress towards the errors and dramas that dogged the 2022 campaign was already being made.
“I joined a bit more than two weeks ago and as you can imagine on some topics, it’s a very long process,” he said.
Ferrari’s development road map ended in Japan, as the team reached the new lower spending limits imposed by the 2022 regulations, but Vasseur would not be drawn on the strategic decisions that took them to that point.
“Development very often is a strategic choice now with the cost cap, to decide if you want to be more focused on the new car – the car of the year after – or the current one,” he said.
“But I was not there and I don’t want to make any judgment of what’s happened in the past.”
Likewise, on Ferrari’s litany of strategic errors over the course of 2022, Vasseur would not be drawn on the individuals responsible, saying he believes “very often when you are speaking about strategy it’s much more a matter of organisation than just the guy who is on the pit wall.”
Ferrari’s strategy was consistently in the spotlight, with journalist Elizabeth Blackstock saying “had Ferrari managed its strategy better with the car it had in 2022, we may have had a spicier Championship battle.”
“Its reliability concerns paled in comparison to things like driver or strategy error.”
Vasseur took a holistic approach to addressing the strategy crisis plaguing the Prancing Horse, saying it was as much about team structures as anything else.
“When you are speaking about strategy or aerodynamics or another topic, you have to avoid to be just focused on the top of the pyramid,” he said.
“I’m trying to understand exactly what happened on every single mistake of what’s happened last year and to try to know if it’s a matter of decision, if it’s a matter of organisation, of communication.
“Very often on the pit wall the biggest issue is more the communication and the number of people involved than the individuals.
“If you’ve got too many people discussing about the same things, when you will have the outcome of the discussions the car will be (starting) the next lap.
“You just need to have a clear discussion and clear flow of communication between the good people at the right position for sure.”
Despite this, Vasseur is confident that Ferrari have the ability to challenge for the championship in just his first year, having come over from Alfa Romeo Sauber.
“We have to put everything together to do a good job but we have everything to be able to win,” he said.
“I think when you are a top team you can’t have another target than the win, at the end of the day.
“You can’t start the season to say okay I would be happy with P2.
“That would be a lack of ambition.
“The target is to win the championship.”