Villeneuve on Ferrari/Fred Vasseur: “That’s the price you pay”

The team principals at Ferrari, the world’s most famous racing team, certainly don’t have an easy life: time and again in recent years, they have been forced to step down due to a lack of success.

Mattia Binotto (now F1 project director at Audi) officially resigned of his own accord at the end of 2022, but that does nothing to change the fact that the Ferrari pressure cooker is once again under immense pressure.

Yet the recipe for success in the premier class has long been known and proven: exceptionally talented specialists should be able to flourish under the best possible working conditions, year after year. And that is precisely what is not happening at Ferrari.

Long-serving Ferrari designer Aldo Costa, who moved to Mercedes in 2012 and has been heading up Dallara’s technical department since 2020, says: “At Ferrari, you’re under constant scrutiny. The media put pressure on you, the tifosi put pressure on you, the shareholders put pressure on you, even the barista puts pressure on you when you have an espresso in the morning.”

The world’s most famous racing team is condemned to success, and, as in football, it’s always the manager who has to go, even if the team has played a right mess of a game.

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Frenchman Fred Vasseur has recently been given a vote of confidence, with Ferrari’s senior management stating that he is the right man at the helm of Ferrari.

Critics pointed out: wasn’t the same said about his predecessors Mattia Binotto, Maurizio Arrivabene and Stefano Domenicali during turbulent times?

What they all have in common is this: no Drivers’ Championship title since 2007 (Kimi Räikkönen), no Constructors’ Championship title since 2008.

Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve says of Ferrari and the current team principal, Vasseur: “The team principal is never the scapegoat; he is the head of the organisation. When things are going well, he looks brilliant; when things aren’t going well, he’s the one who has to take the flak.”

The 55-year-old Canadian, speaking as a GP expert for Sky, continues: “Anyone who joins Ferrari – not just as team principal – knows that this is the price you have to pay; it’s the flip side of the coin. You’re brilliant when the team is performing well, but two or three bad races, and the whole world seems to be against you – at least the media do.”

“But it’s always been that way – for other team principals, drivers, engineers, for everyone. It’s simply the price you have to pay to be part of the greatest team of all time.”

Is Vasseur under too much pressure? The 1997 champion reckons: “Hard to say. Did the other team principals before him perhaps deserve more time? He’s already been given more time than quite a few others before him.”

The eleven-time Grand Prix winner points out a fundamental difference between two top teams. “If you look at other teams like Mercedes with Toto Wolff, he makes all the decisions. No one is above him. And he’s also a co-owner of the team, just as was the case with teams in the past. That’s not the case at Ferrari. Vasseur doesn’t have full control over what’s going on or over the decision-making process.”

“But a committee doesn’t work in Formula 1. It’s too slow. In F1, you have to be able to react in a flash; you have to be quick. You’re not quick if decision-making rests with different people.”

Villeneuve compares Vasseur with some of his predecessors at Ferrari: “I think the big difference now is that Fred is protected by the drivers – which is a good thing.”