Fred Vasseur shares what immediately ‘shocked’ him about Ferrari when he became team boss

Follow us on Google Discover

Fred Vasseur is “pushing like hell” to convince everyone at Ferrari that they can make a difference as the Scuderia’s caution “shocked” him when he took over back in 2022.

Ferrari turned to Vasseur in their quest to hire a new team principal in December 2022 after Mattia Binotto resigned. Binotto walked away from Maranello after 28 years, including four as their team boss, after he failed to maintain a title bid at the start of the ground-effect era.

Vasseur has since been putting his pieces of the puzzle into place in an attempt to finally get Ferrari back to the top of the Formula 1 summit. The Scuderia have not won the F1 drivers’ championship since 2007 with Kimi Raikkonen and last lifted the constructors’ title in 2008.

Can Ferrari still win an F1 title in 2026?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Fred Vasseur was ‘shocked’ by Ferrari’s cautious approach when he joined in 2022

A title bid at the start of F1’s 2026 regulations era is still on the cards for Ferrari and Vasseur, with the pride of Italy currently second to Mercedes in the teams’ standings. Charles Leclerc is third in the drivers’ standings yet trails Andrea Kimi Antonelli by 41 points after four races.

READ MORE: Who is Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur? Everything you need to know

One of the biggest changes that has inspired Ferrari’s strong start to the 2026 season has been Vasseur encouraging a more relaxed atmosphere in Maranello than the team has been known for. The Scuderia’s engineers are now motivated to take more risks with their efforts.

Vasseur refutes suggestions that Ferrari had a “culture of fear” in the past, but he admits he was “shocked” by how cautious their engineers were when he took charge in 2022. He is still trying to reassure “everyone” that their work has an impact on their car’s performance, too.

“It’s not that there was a culture of fear or blame or whatever, but maybe it was a bit on the back foot,” Vasseur told The Race. “The first thing that shocked me when I joined was the gap that we had on every single topic, just because we didn’t want to be exposed.

“Add a kilo more weight, half or a litre or more [of fuel], open the sidepod more, one step more. At the end of the day, when you put everything on the table, it was two tenths.

“You can’t be at zero, but between zero and two-tenths there is one-tenth. And if you consider the average between us and the guy in front of us last year was three hundredths of a second, you can imagine the impact of one tenth on the season.

“This mindset, I’m pushing like hell to convince everybody that they are all a performance contributor. It’s the mindset of Loic, too.”

Fred Vasseur refuses to use team orders at Ferrari – Is he wrong?

Comment

Like or Comment

Have your say Sign-in now for free

Ferrari have historically been known for having a blame culture, with their engineers often held to account after upgrades fail, strategic blunders spurn chances to win or title bids do not materialise. But Vasseur is attempting to move his Ferrari team in a different direction.

Vasseur is also leading by example to show Ferrari’s engineers that he is not afraid to make the big decisions in his bid to take a title back to Maranello. After McLaren started last year strongly, Vasseur stopped developing Ferrari’s 2025 car last April to prioritise their 2026 car.

While Mercedes have started 2026 stronger than Ferrari have, the Scuderia are having their best start to a season since 2022. Leclerc has two Grand Prix podiums through four rounds, while Lewis Hamilton got his first Ferrari podium in China and also won the Shanghai Sprint.