EXCLUSIVE: ’You have to take risk everywhere’ – Fred Vasseur on how he’s going to take Ferrari back to the top

Twenty months into the biggest job in Formula 1 and Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur is methodically chipping away at reshaping the world’s most famous racing team, as he bids to turn them back into world beaters and champions of the sport.

It hasn’t been easy, obviously. Every decision he makes, every move on track, every result at the chequered flag is analysed in minute detail. At Ferrari, if you succeed, it’s expected. If you lose, you’re criticised more than most.

For Italy and the team’s loyal fanbase known as the tifosi, anything other than victory is considered failure. After 14 races this year, Ferrari sit third in the constructors’ championship – exactly where they were after the same number of races last year. Red Bull remain the team to beat.

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On paper, then, Ferrari – and thus Vasseur – are not doing a good job. But that is not a fair analysis. The Italian squad are in a much stronger position than they were last year. They have accumulated 345 points – 117 more than they had at the same point last year – and are just 63 off the lead.

And while the criticism externally continues, internally, it’s a different picture. Ferrari employees are not getting in their own heads and are no longer their worst enemy. Talk to senior people in the team and they will tell you they are staying calm. Does Vasseur agree?

“I think so,” he says, when we chat in his office on the middle floor of Ferrari’s paddock hospitality unit. “Internally, the mood is OK. For sure we wanted to get more, and probably we overreacted on some events, trying to get more. When you have an aggressive attitude, sometimes you get less. It’s where we have to stay calm.”

'It has to stay under control'

Vasseur is the second Frenchman to lead Ferrari – the first was Jean Todt, who presided over 14 drivers and constructors world championship titles between 1999 and 2008. The Italian team haven’t added any championship silverware since.

Vasseur hasn’t tried to reinvent the wheel after taking the reins ahead of last season. Ferrari employees are known for their passion, which sometimes has had a negative impact when things haven’t gone right. Vasseur hasn’t moved to eradicate that – but rather work with it.

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“Somehow you need to have a kind of frustration when you’re not doing well because it’s also the best push to come back,” he says. “It has to stay under control. We had four tough weekends [Canada, Spain, Austria and Britain] – the mood in the team was not good, as it was not what we wanted, but there was positivity about trying to catch up and understand why and fix it. The attitude is good.”

The great challenge with Ferrari has always been about giving team personnel the confidence to push the boundaries of their respective areas without fear or getting criticised, singled-out or even fired when an idea doesn’t work out or a mistake is made.

In a relatively short space of time, Vasseur seems to have successfully implemented such a culture and adjusted the mindset.  

“If I have to be proud of something, it’s not the result,” he says. “The result is a consequence. It’s more the fact everybody is more keen to take risk, a bit less scared – the consequence is the result. The fact that we are trying to change a bit the mentality.

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“It’s a mindset for me. You can’t keep margin. You have to take risk everywhere [if you want to win]. This is a racing mentality. It is probably also the DNA of Red Bull. It’s where we need a step forward.”

Vasseur is level-headed. You won’t see him overreact when the team has a bad weekend nor will you see him celebrate wildly if they win. On those bad days, Vasseur fronts up, broadens his shoulders and takes the bullets – he will protect his team at all costs.

On those good days, he will congratulate everyone but very quickly use it to refocus everyone’s minds on achieving that success consistently.

“You have people who can look at the positives and others who look at the areas of improvement – and I think I’m more on the latter,” says Vasseur. “I don’t spend energy or time in my life asking each morning, ‘are we happy with what we did?’

“This is the competition. I did nine races in 10 weeks or something like this (that run included attending Le Mans where Ferrari won for the second year running). Most important is to be focused on your weakness and to keep the continuous improvement approach.

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“But it’s OK. It’s also OK because I think one of the characteristics of an Italian team is to be Latin. My job is more don’t blame everything, to push or try to get them motivated. My job is sometimes more to stay calm on the positive and negative.

“The reaction on everything is always to amplify, internally first but also externally – with journalists – and this part of my job is to convince everyone we are not world champions after Canada or Monaco. And we are not much worse one week after Canada.”

'Every single day, we have to try and do a better job than yesterday'

There are signs that Ferrari’s mindset is changing. Yes there were celebrations after Charles Leclerc finally won on home soil in Monaco earlier this year – but when the pendulum swung and they failed to finish with either car at the next race, there was not a huge swing in emotion. They stayed calm. But there is still so much to do.

“I think it would be a mistake to imagine there is a ‘To-Do’ list because it’s much more about a continuous improvement approach,” says Vasseur. “We don’t have to do one thing and it’s done. My ‘To-Do’ list is to convince everyone at the factory it’s like this.

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“Every single day, we have to try and do a better job than yesterday. It’s even more true today in F1, with such small gaps between the teams and the cars. Every single detail is making a huge difference in terms of results. The average between us and the guys in front is something like three or four hundredths of a second.

“In Imola, you have three cars within one thousandth. We have to keep this in mind and make sure we are trying in every area of the company from production to design to track operations to aero to chase every tenth.”

Since Leclerc tasted victory on the streets of Monaco, the Monegasque has endured a difficult run of races that has led to him almost being lost for words when talking to the media to explain why Ferrari haven’t been able to repeat the trick. In Hungary, there was a notable shift in his tone, though, and what followed were two of his strongest results of the season with fourth in Hungary, and pole and third at Spa.

“It’s not just about Charles, it’s tough for the team,” says Vasseur, who worked with Leclerc when he made his F1 debut with Sauber. “After Monaco we had a tough sequence. In Canada we were not in bad shape. What is clear is the car is a bit more difficult to drive the last couple of events and the level of expectation of Charles is also a bit higher.

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“It’s the life of a team, that you have up and downs. We have permanent discussions with Charles. He knows the situation on our side, what we do well and what we did wrong and he knows sometimes he did some mistakes. But we’re not in the situation that we’re trying to put the responsibility on someone.

“We’ve been working together for years, we know each other perfectly, we know we are pushing, we know we just need to fix things. We are absolutely not in the situation to finger point. It’s also where it’s good to have a personal relationship.”

His team mate Sainz, who will be replaced by seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton next year, has run Leclerc close this year and sits 15 points behind in the drivers’ championship (having done one fewer race as he missed Saudi Arabia to have his appendix out).

Vasseur has been impressed at the way Sainz has handled his impending departure and highlights the Spaniard’s ability to be a match for Leclerc as key to being in the fight for the constructors’ championship this year.

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“It’s one of the qualities of Carlos that he’s very strong in mind, he’s very consistent,” says Vasseur.

“There are only two races I could see that were tough for him over the last 36. He is mega consistent, he is always there. He is very dedicated, very focused and has a good understanding of the car.”

When the season resumes after the summer break in the Netherlands, there are still 10 races to go – and a first constructors’ championship for Ferrari in nearly two decades is very much in play. For Vasseur, though, the focus isn’t on the end goal but on the day-to-day details. He won’t let himself get distracted.

“It’s a huge challenge, it’s probably the most demanding job in my business,” he says. “But the mood is there and the mood is important for the final result. We have to keep the positive attitude that we have and try to do a better job.”

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