Ferrari begins a major transfer market
The Team Principal of Ferrari, Frédéric Vasseur, explained to the Gazzetta dello Sport that he intends to continue the significant market activity undertaken since the beginning of the season.
Frédéric Vasseur has been leading the Scuderia Ferrari for the first time since the start of the season. Following Mattia Binotto’s departure from the “prancing horse” in November, the Frenchman took the plunge after several years at Alfa Romeo (formerly Sauber).
Freshly arrived in the Italian team, he embarked on a major team renewal. Yesterday, in an interview for La Gazzetta dello Sport, he clearly explained the plan for 2024: “We will change engineers and the project philosophy.” Vasseur has initiated a large-scale recruitment phase, with 25 engineers already being attracted. “We have welcomed around 25 people, but we are looking for more. None of them are currently working at the Scuderia,” he states, as all these people will probably only start working for Ferrari from 2024 onwards.
« The F1 personnel market is similar to that of football players »
But recruiting staff in F1 is far from easy, and Vasseur had to start early. « It quickly became the essential part of my job at Ferrari. You have to build good relationships with people, convince them to move. »
« Today, the GP personnel market resembles that of football players. The top 50 technicians have contracts of three years or more, so to get them to leave, you have to wait for their contracts to expire, pay heavy penalties, or negotiate to have them released earlier. In short, it’s complicated. » according to Frédéric Vasseur, who is facing this problem with Loïc Serra, the director of performance at Mercedes, whose upcoming arrival has been confirmed.
« We have signed a big name, who is supposed to start on January 1st, 2025, but we are trying to get ahead of schedule. How can I convince Toto Wolff to release him earlier? »
