“Will Fight Like Hell”: Ferrari Boss Frederic Vasseur Wages War Against Toto Wolff to Brush Aside Old Friendship

The Exodus of Team principals in F1 spared 4 out of the 10 teams on the grid in 2022. Going into the upcoming season, the most major signing in this team boss roulette has been Frederic Vasseur. Taking charge at Maranello, Vasseur will face some staunch challenges if he wishes to take Ferrari to glory. Some of these challenges may also come from his old ally Toto Wolff and his team at Brackley. Fred has had a good old friendship with the Mercedes boss but will have to fight against him to make the Scuderia world champion.

As per GP Fans, speaking to select media, Vasseur cited how he can wage war against Toto and Co. for Ferrari’s championship goals. He is aware of how both professionals will have to brush aside their friendly bond while fighting on and off the track.

Vasseur said, “I know that we will fight on track, fight in the stewards’ [room], fight in the FIA, fight for the Concorde Agreement, and this is life. But at the end of the day, for the global picture, it’s an advantage to have good collaboration between teams.”

Fred also mentioned how, at some junctures, Mercedes and Ferrari may have common interests. So having a diplomatic collaboration helps to find common ground and solutions to issues of the sport. But otherwise, he stated, “But then be sure I will fight like hell with Toto out on the track.”

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It’s been a while since Mercedes and Ferrari battled head-to-head for the world title. 2019 was probably the last time both teams were on arguably equal footing. Toto has got his work cut out to get the Silver Arrows back at the top in 2023. But, for the Maranello team too, Vasseur has a lot of issues he aims to resolve for this upcoming year.

Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur undertakes the Revamp of the Scuderia

Primarily, the Italian team faced several issues in its last year’s championship fight. Be it pit stops, race strategies, team orders, engine reliability, and the list goes on. Now, with Frederic Vasseur in charge, he has taken up these issues to tackle and resolve at a steady pace.

In his media interaction, Fred also touched upon some of these issues. He stated how he is supervising some of the measures to resolve these issues. Firstly, about race strategies and tire changes, he stated how he has identified the root cause of the problem. As per the Race, the Frenchman cited how there are multiple variables in the strategy department and not just the guy at the top.

So, Vasseur does not wish to throw the top guy under the bus and revamp the strategic errors of Ferrari. He shall review all the communication issues and several other aspects and accordingly tweak the system. Similarly, even the team has taken up the issue of pit stop errors seriously to resolve their Achilles heel ahead of the 2023 season.

Regarding the team orders and the issue of having a #1 and #2 driver system, Fred believes it ain’t necessary from the start. Although, he will take the appropriate action if at any point a team order swap is necessary. Of course, Vasseur does not wish to stir the pot too much right up front. But eventually, he shall take over the order of affairs sooner than later.

Besides these operational aspects, the Ferrari boss has also rubbished the claims of an alleged 30 hp gain in their power unit. While he has cited how the team has worked on solving the reliability issues, he denied any performance gains.

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So far Frederic Vasseur seems settled at Maranello well. And he seems to be on top of everything that Ferrari is up to in 2023. But, unless they do not translate this good vibe and control into results, a different Ferrari regime may not be established. Do you think Vasseur can turn around the fate of the Scuderia this season?