First results in Azerbaijan for the new manager of Maranello who faces the difficulty of a complicated challenge: leading the renewal in Maranello without neglecting the growth of the SF-23 on the track
Three difficult weekends, then finally Baku, with two poles in two days and a third place in the race. For Fred Vasseur the Azerbaijan GP was his first podium finish as a team principal Ferrari, with the best time in qualifying on Friday and the one in the first F1 Shootout, the mini-qualification to define the starting grid of the Sprint. Of course, the race confirmed that the Red Bulls are still in another category, it’s certainly not with third places that Maranello is celebrating. But it is the confirmation that in what Vasseur had declared after Australia, emphasizing the progress made, there was a foundation. The Prancing Horse is working hard under his guidance and the first results have also arrived from Azerbaijan, in the form of the best time on a single lap and, what counts, placement among the top three.
double track
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Vasseur was obviously asked to win, but it should never be forgotten when he arrived, which was at the end of last season, after all the planning for 2023 had been done by his predecessor Mattia Binotto. This means that Fred has immersed himself in the new reality, not exactly his, necessarily with the preliminary need to know all the collaborators. It was unthinkable that the Frenchman could make decisive breakthroughs in a few days, yet everyone underlined his commitment to quickly enter the new professional reality. It didn’t take long for the double track on which this Ferrari cycle is marching to take shape, that of developing the competitiveness of this 2023 season, but also the renewal of the ranks. And it hasn’t been long before the first changes. After the first tests and the first race in Bahrain, on March 9, the news of the departure of David Sanchez, the aerodynamicist who with Enrico Cardile is one of the main managers of the SF-23 project.
exits and hirings
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Saudi Arabia and Australia were not easy stages, with sixth and seventh place for Sainz and Leclerc in Jeddah and double zero in Melbourne. But despite this, during the three-week break, Vasseur continued on the double track, boosting factory work to improve the strengths of the SF-23 without the renewal stopping. Confirmation came from the words of the chairman John Elkann, who in a letter to Exor shareholders, in speaking of the Ferrari events, specified that “Profound changes are underway within the walls of Maranello, in particular in strengthening the sporting activity on the track” . Thus, on the eve of the Baku GP, AlphaTauri’s announcement of the hiring of Laurent Mekies, right from the Prancing Horse, for the role of Team Principal caused quite a stir. In Baku this announcement was one of the topics of the weekend, also because Mekies, who is sporting director of Ferrari, plays an important role in the team. Carlos Sainz was diplomatic, but he wanted to underline how there is no demobilization at Ferrari at all, on the contrary: “For Mekies it is an opportunity to be seized, but at Ferrari we are optimistic because we are hiring many people, we will make the team stronger to offset the exits, I have full confidence in Frederick Vasseur and the management in how they are handling things.”
optimize the package
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And precisely speaking of management, with the first points on the podium, Vasseur underlined how this Ferrari above all needs continuity in extracting the maximum performance over the course of the entire weekend, a result achieved with Leclerc in Baku, without forgetting how much done so far by Sainz: “Everyone will bring updates in the next races and we shouldn’t expect major upheavals – said Fred – I also believe that the performance in Baku came because we managed to optimize the available package. The package will evolve over the course of the weekend, but it will be important to make the most of it and this is where we have improved compared to Jeddah. We have worked much better in operational terms and I am very satisfied with the work that has been done so far, we are on the right track. Charles had a perfect weekend on single lap and race pace when we asked him to open a gap on Alonso. Did Carlos suffer? But previously he was also in front of Charles. It’s true that this weekend, right from the first lap of free practice 1, he lost his car and lost a bit of confidence, which makes the weekend complicated. But he was on point over the course of the weekend and brought home some points ”. Fred’s double challenge continues.
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2023-05-02 05:55:35
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