“Are You Proud of Ferrari?”: Shamelessly Ignoring Own Failures Fred Vasseur Seeks the Ultimate Validation

“I have yet to meet anyone quite so stubborn as myself and animated by this overpowering passion that leaves me no time for thought or anything else. I have, in fact, no interest in life outside racing cars,” said Enzo Ferrari. The Ferrari founder was a true racer and ran on gasoline. Racing was his reason to live. Yet, when Frederic Vasseur was rhetorically asked an Enzo Ferrari question, he sought the ultimate validation and shamelessly ignored his own failures. What did Vasseur say?

Frederic Vasseur was appointed as the TP by the Scuderia before the start of the current season. Mattia Binotto was let go and the Frenchman was allowed to take the lead of the Ferrari ship. However, Vasseur hasn’t been able to tell much about the ship as it continues to sink. One only wonders when will Ferrari go back to its glory days and win a championship once again. 

The strategic blunders, unforced errors, and inability to build a competitive car meant that Ferrari hadn’t won a championship in over 15 years. Frederic Vasseur recently spoke to Tom Clarkson on the F1: Beyond the Grid podcast. During the interview, Clarkson asked Vasseur, “Enzo Ferrari, if he was alive today, and you could ask him a question, what would that be?” To which Vasseur replied, “Are you proud of what Ferrari is today?”

It was at this moment when he was asked as to what he thought Enzo Ferrari would reply that he ignored his own failure and sought validation by saying “I don’t know, it’s very difficult to. For sure, as a racer probably the team would like to get better results and focus on the results and performance and say ‘Guys we have to win blah blah blah… okay’. But as a company guy, he would be very proud of the image of Ferrari over the world.” 

Vasseur advised that Enzo Ferrari would be proud of what Ferrari’s image is over the world. However, a former Ferrari boss recently suggested how the only marketing the Ferrari does is the F1 team. So the F1 team is the image that Ferrari will have around the world. Nonetheless, the former boss did applaud the Scuderia for believing in themselves. 

Read More: Despite Being Offered $204,000,000 Contract, Charles Leclerc Lays Down “Difficult” Conditions for Long Term Future at Ferrari

Eddie Jordan applauds Ferrari for its courage and belief

Most of the F1 teams back in the day entered F1 not only because of the technological advancement the F1 project would bring to the road-going cars of that team but also because of the publicity. Even today, sponsors pay millions just to put their logo on a car. While other teams used it as an additional method of marketing, Ferrari has been using it as their only way of Marketing since its inception.

According to the Formula for Success podcast, Eddie Jordan said “I’m not sure if the people realize, you’ve got one of the biggest brands in terms of the recall rate in the world, there’s not much bigger. And then, they have never ever advertised, you’ll never see a paper, a magazine of any description l. Everything that they’ve ever done is through Formula 1. And I applaud them for that because it shows huge courage, but also, belief in the sport and belief in themselves.”

What did you make of Frederic Vasseur’s attempt to seek self-validation?

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