Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have welcomed the arrival of Fred Vasseur as Ferrari team principal, replacing Mattia Binotto who decided to walk out of the team despite taking the Reds to second place in the 2022 Formula 1 Championship.
First, although Vasseur has been quick to find a place to stay near Maranello and have snaps taken wearing a Ferrari jacket, Binotto is still the boss until the end of the year. Nop doubt his replacement will be itching to get to work, because he has a lot on his plate.
Second, Binotto is an excellent engineer, the Ferrari F1-75 an impressive piece of kit, so on that front he delivered. Where he let himself is micromanagement and a perception that his superiors - invisible John Elkann and Benedetto Vigna - were okay with the substandard performances his team delivered on some race weekends.
Pitstop blunders, self-destructive strategies, and all the off-track 'F1 fluff' were simply too much for Binotto to handle by himself. He was a lone man leading, without a safety net of support from the incompetents above his head.
While the narrative dished out by Ferrari is that Binotto walked, yes he quit rather than get fired they say. Hard to believe but raises obvious questions.
Did they offer him support in the guise of Vasseur joining at the helm of the team? Did they suggest Mattia be in charge of the clever stuff and horsepower hidden away from the media firing line? With Fred barking at them and handling all the other stuff, like efficient pitstops, and basic strategy lessons.
We won't know that until someone spills the beans in a book or whatever. Before then though, there are two schools of thought regarding Vasseur's new job; drivers are adamant he is the right man for the job, while seasoned pundits doubt he is the savior for Tifosi.
Drivers are talking up Fred's abilities while pundits question the wisdom of the appointment
Needless to say, contemporary drivers will not be slagging off Fred who has worked with the likes of Lerwis Hamilton, Nico Roberg and the like during their junior years. Even former F1 driver Romain Grosjean, who drove for Vasseur's ART GP2 Series team, in 2008, has weighed in on the debate, the Frenchman convinced he is the right man for the job, in an interview with La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"The Ferrari job is a huge challenge for anyone, but he can do it," declared Grosjean of Vasseur's appointment: “He and Leclerc are very close friends and this helps the environment, but he also knows Sainz well. I won the 2007 F3 in his team and we worked together for a long time.
"Frederic Vasseur is a born competitor and understands racing like few others. Above all, I’ve never met a better engineer who understands us as drivers. It’s as if he were a driver himself.”
Sainz is also upbeat but cautioned: “Every time a new person joins the team there is always an extra motivation to do well and the team will try to take another step forward. Ferrari is a giant, there are 1,300 people and we have to give Fred time.
"He will need time to figure out what changes the team needs, but I have heard great things about him. That doesn’t happen from one day to the next.”
Leclerc made his F1 debut at Alfa Romeo aka Sauber under Vasseur's watch and also drove for him in the junior series' and thus know each the very well but he too has words of warning for the incoming boss: "Ferrari is very different.
"I can only comment on my experiences with Fred, which have always been good even from the junior categories. He was always very clear and honest, which is something I like. We've always had a good relationship and he's a very good team principal," added Leclerc.
On the other side of the coin, veteran F1 pundits are not fully convinced Fred is the remedy
Writing in Auto Motor und Sport, Michael Schmidt did not mince his word: "It was a separation without necessity and, on top of that, poorly managed. Ferrari was on the right track. If second place is the reason for termination, then Vasseur will have a short lifespan.
"There can be no success in that environment. Ferrari always make the same mistake. they have too little patience with their good 'generals' and hang on too long to the worthless ones.
"That was already the case with Stefano Domenicali, there was no reason to swap him out for Marco Mattiacci in 2014. If you want to know why Ferrari hasn't become a world champion since 2007, then they lie in the Ferrari president's short fuse," wrote Schmidt.
This could also be said of the previous president, the late Sergio Marchionne whose fuse was even shorter than most and may well have been the source of this mess in the first place; sending Maurizio Arrivabene packing and promoting the engineer to the ho0t seat.
It bombed, Mattia has needed help from day one, especially when the big boss passed away unexpectedly
Also questioning the wisdom of the changes, as well as their timing, is Martin Brundle in his Sky F1 analysis of the goings on at #4 Via Abetone Inferiore: “I’m not quite sure why Ferrari would choose now to have a month without a boss.
“I do think they should have given Binotto more time. If I was Mercedes or Red Bull right now, I’d be smiling because continuity is everything. As Formula 1 seasons get longer and more intense, you have to be careful of these sea changes of personnel."
Bundle: Mercedes have got real continuity, as have Red Bull in key personnel
"Fred Vasseur has got to go in and find his way, get established, understand, and it’s a tall order," ventured Brundle. "It doesn’t matter who you are, it’s going to take time unless you are a part of the fabric like Domenicali was and like Binotto has been.
“It is such a fundamental change and it will destabilise them in the short term, it has to. Everybody will be slightly off balance thinking, where do they stand, and what’s next? They’ll be in limbo," predicted Brundle.
Already speculation is bubbling that Leclerc, thanks to his history with Vasseur, will be the chosen one should the new team boss go for the old tried and tested F1 title-winning template: The team is built and focuses around one driver.
Brundle alluded to the possibility of such a scenario manifesting under the new boss: "If they’ve taken Vasseur on because he was close or is close to Charles Leclerc, that’s completely the wrong reason. It’s a massively bigger job than that.
“And Ferrari they’ve got Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, one of the finest driver pairings in Formula One, and they both need to feel comfortable and loved and supported. So Fred won’t be going there thinking ‘you know, I’m with Charles’.
“They’ve got a better chance of keeping Leclerc into the future if he’s comfortable. But it’s all about performance, it’s not about who’s friendly with who in this business. Quite the opposite actually," Brundle reckoned.
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