$6,280,000,000 Worth Ferrari Vice Chairman Instills Faith in Frederic Vasseur Owing to One Crucial Factor Amid Charles Leclerc & Co.’s Persistent Struggles

The start of the 2022 season hinted at the much-awaited resurgence of Ferrari. Charles Leclerc started off with a banger in Bahrain and got another race win in Australia. At one point, the Monegasque had a 46-point lead over Max Verstappen. However, after that point, the season turned out to be an embarrassment for the Prancing Horse. The engineers in Maranello failed to match the development pace their counterparts in Milton Keynes made. Despite finishing runner-up in both standings, the Ferrari management considered the season a failure and showed team principal Mattia Binotto the exit door. Ahead of the start of the 2023 season, they appointed incumbent Alfa Romeo boss Frederic Vasseur in his place. However, the results, instead of improving, have gotten worse. Ferrari’s Vice Chairman is not bothered, though. The heir of the legendary Enzo Ferrari is ready to show faith in the Frenchman for the long haul.

Forget about matching Red Bull’s pace in 2023, Ferrari is languishing in 4th place in the standings. The car lacks pace, has reliability issues, and struggles for grip on the tarmac. They made some changes to the underbody of the car ahead of the race in Baku and that instantly paid off. Leclerc grabbed the pole position in qualifying for both Sprint and the Main Race. He even converted those pole positions into podium finishing places. However, the outing in Miami once again exposed the underlying weaknesses of the SF-23.

Piero Ferrari lauds Frederic Vasseur for his experience

Leclerc spun and went into the barriers in one of the practice sessions in Miami. He re-established his trust in the car to reach the Q3 in on Saturday. However, he pushed the car beyond its limits in search of the pole position and once again ended up in the barriers. Vasseur, however, refused to blame his star driver for it and in fact, lauded him for pushing his boundaries and the car’s. That kind of faith is exactly what Piero, Ferrari’s VC, is showing in the team boss.

Speaking with Autosprint recently, he said, “We have to give him time to put his hands in the trouble. He is someone who knows racing well, he has been in the business for years, he deserves confidence.”

“We need people from different backgrounds. If we go back in history, when we made real changes in the organisation, by bringing in staff from other teams, the results could be seen. We are good at certain things, but for other things you need specialists to be brought in from outside.”

Read More: Failing to Sign Red Bull’s Mastermind, Toto Wolff Settles for a Key Figure From the Austrian Team to Overturn Mercedes Fortunes

Talking about hiring specialists, Piero spilled the beans on being in touch with Red Bull’s aerodynamic genius, Adrian Newey. The Briton, however, refused the offer not once, but twice. The $6.28 billion-worth man(as per Bloomberg’s report) revealed the reason behind it.

Why Adrian Newey refused to jump ship to Ferrari

From Sebastian Vettel’s 2010-2013 onslaught to Max Verstappen’s unchallenged dominance now, Newey has helped build every championship-winning car Red Bull has produced. Even before that, his engineering prowess was well known during his Williams and McLaren days. Newey is currently as hot a property as any top F1 driver and Ferrari tried to poach him.

The Ferrari VC continued, “He has spoken to [Luca di] Montezemolo and then also to Jean Todt. Apparently, he doesn’t want to move: he likes to stay in England! And then, unquestionable skill aside, it’s not just himself, he has excellent people around him.”

Mercedes too tried to lure the man to jump ship recently as he was discussing contract-extension plans with Red Bull. However, that attempt went unsuccessful as well.

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Do you think Ferrari can recover under Vasseur in 2023? Or will it take a lot more time than that? Is the Ferrari management willing to wait for that long?