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Fred Vasseur has been praised for turning Ferrari’s fortunes around after the team’s ‘catastrophe’ in 2025.
Ahead of the 2023 Formula 1 season, Frenchman Vasseur was appointed Ferrari’s team principal, replacing Mattia Binotto.
Vasseur’s best season as Ferrari team boss came in 2024, when he led the team to a second-place finish behind McLaren.
However, 2025 was a nightmare for the Scuderia as the SF-25 proved problematic and new signing Lewis Hamilton failed to settle.
In the end, Ferrari finished a disappointing fourth, behind Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren.
So far in the 2026 season, Ferrari have looked much better, with Hamilton and Charles Leclerc scoring at least one podium finish.
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Jean Alesi hails Fred Vasseur for Ferrari turnaround after dismal 2025
Speaking recently to RacingNews365, former F1 driver Jean Alesi heaped praise on Vasseur.
Alesi, who drove for Ferrari, Benetton and Sauber during his career, stated that he has been impressed with the SF-26, describing it as a ‘real Ferrari car’.
He said: “At the end of the season, when they asked me how the Ferrari year had gone, I said: a catastrophe. It was a catastrophe, but I said nothing wrong. I just told the facts.
“And I am now very satisfied with the way they start the season, because they appeared at the start with a real Ferrari car. I am very impressed.
“Fred does an excellent job from day one. Being a team boss must be incredible, I don’t know exactly what it’s like, but it must be incredibly complex. At Ferrari, it’s another story. It is multiplied by 100 percent…”
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Alesi added: “Everyone has their own idea. It is very important to have a boss who brings everything together. That’s why Vasseur was very frustrated last year, because it was an incredibly difficult task for him to keep everyone together.
“There was a lot of criticism of the team and him, and that completely disrupted the balance within the team. Now it’s only the beginning of the season, but it looks like Ferrari is on the right track.”
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Ferrari looking to fight Mercedes on ‘equal terms’
Despite their promising start to the 2026 season, Ferrari are still behind Mercedes, who have dominated the first three races.
However, it has now been claimed that they are looking to bring the fight to Mercedes in the upcoming races.
According to Italian news outlet La Gazzetta dello Sport, Ferrari had originally planned to bring power unit-related upgrades in July.
However, it has been suggested that Ferrari are working to ‘minimise the timeframe’ of their power unit upgrades and to have them from Barcelona onwards.
Ferrari are said to have an ‘aerodynamic and software package’ that is ready to be unleashed at next month’s Miami Grand Prix.
With upgrades planned for the upcoming races, Ferrari know that if they manage to close the gap to Mercedes, Leclerc and Hamilton are more than capable of challenging for victories.
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