For Vasseur, nothing will magically bring Ferrari back to Red Bull except hard work
Ferrari boss, Fred Vasseur, asserts that his team must not make the mistake of believing that their rival Red Bull has a magical solution that needs to be imitated.
Ferrari finished the 2023 season in third place in the World Championship, 454 points behind Red Bull. In the midst of this undisputed dominance, where Red Bull will win almost all the Grand Prix, the Scuderia managed to win the only Grand Prix that eluded the reigning champion, with Carlos Sainz in Singapore.
Vasseur emphasized that his team needs to improve in all areas in order to reduce the advantage that Red Bull has, rather than focusing on replicating a major gain, like Red Bull.
« I think the mistake would be to imagine that Red Bull has a magical solution that will give us a five-tenths advantage or that we will make a sudden leap forward. Performance comes from the entire team, from the fact that we are able to produce parts faster, from the fact that we will have better reliability.
« We have conceded too many points this season for various reasons, for reliability issues, for a disqualification in Austin, for a setback in qualifying. That is clearly where we need to work on. And we need to improve the aerodynamics, the engine, and every subject.
Vasseur emphasized that the team improved the performance of the SF-23 in the latter part of the season by better understanding the car rather than regularly introducing updates to the track.
The most important thing is that the thousand people we have in the team are convinced that they all contribute to the performance, and they all try to push the limits a little, even if it’s only for a thousandth of a second, it can be enough to take a big step forward.
Frédéric Vasseur already believes that Ferrari has improved, without having made any major changes to its car. A very optimistic assessment for the future, as the winter tests approach and, above all, the next Formula 1 season.
« I am more than happy because between Zandvoort and Abu Dhabi, we did not massively change the car. […] We had an improvement in Japan, I think, but fundamentally, we kept the same car, and we were able to do a much better job with a better understanding of the car, better settings, and a better approach from the drivers. » Before concluding, « this means that we have room for improvement everywhere, and this feeling is good for developing something for next year. »
