Five issues new Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur will have to fix for F1 2023
Fix their strategy team
One of Ferrari’s weaknesses in 2022 was their consistently poor - or indecisive strategy calls.
Strategy making is an integral part of any F1 team, especially when two teams are evenly-matched on outright performance.
F1 races are often decided by important calls on the pit wall, whether they should opt for a specific strategy - one-stop or two-stop?
Ferrari’s 2022 campaign was littered with operational errors, from incorrect tyre calls to poor communication on the pit wall to their drivers.
Charles Leclerc was on the wrong end of a number of bizarre strategy choices.
In Monaco, Ferrari failed to react to Red Bull putting Sergio Perez on the intermediates, costing Leclerc the potential to win his home race, dropping from pole position to finish fourth.
It was a similar story at Silverstone as Ferrari didn’t pit Leclerc under the Safety Car, allowing teammate Carlos Sainz to overtake, before losing further positions to Perez and Lewis Hamilton.
According to some reports, the British Grand Prix was the moment Leclerc and Binotto’s relationship soured after the Italian gave his star driver somewhat of a telling off after the race in parc ferme.
Hungary was another bad day for Ferrari’s strategy team, putting Leclerc on the hards when they were an awful race tyre.
Ferrari were making sub-par strategy choices in their failed title bids with Sebastian Vettel in 2017 and 2018.
Ferrari need to address this if they have any hope of toppling Red Bull next year.
Get behind Leclerc
With Leclerc out of contract at the end of 2024, Ferrari need to do everything they can to appease the Monegasque.
Leclerc is Ferrari’s star man, and if given the machinery, he has the tools needed to take it to Verstappen and Hamilton.
While Sainz is a solid performer, he’s yet to show the levels of pace Leclerc or Verstappen have.
Granted, the Spaniard struggled with the oversteer nature of the Ferrari car in the first half of the season, however, the car should be tailored towards their best driver, like Red Bull do with Verstappen.
It’s incredibly likely Mercedes will be looking for a replacement for Hamilton by the time 2025 comes around - when Leclerc is out of contract.
If Ferrari can’t prove they have the potential to be title winners, Leclerc might start looking elsewhere.
Plus, it’s in Ferrari’s interest to have a clear team hierarchy given how successful it has been for Red Bull, Mercedes and even the Scuderia in the past.
Change the team’s mentality
Remarkably, Ferrari still haven’t won the drivers’ championship since 2007.
They’ve had a few near misses since then, but it’s clear the famous Italian team isn’t a title-winning outfit.
After two disappointing seasons by their high standards, Ferrari returned to the front of the grid in 2022 with a race-winning car.
Until the Belgian Grand Prix, Ferrari had the quickest car, but Verstappen was well in control of the title race.
It seemed Binotto was satisfied with Ferrari's season because they had made significant progress over the winter, even though their title bid collapsed prematurely.
Binotto’s inability to acknowledge or accept Ferrari’s failings throughout the campaign was also puzzling.
Yes, the progress they made since 2021 was impressive but given their size, stature and resources, it was only a matter of time.
Four wins in 22 races was not good enough.
Car development
Developing their car throughout a season has been a weakness for Ferrari in their recent title pursuits.
They were hit hardest by the technical directive introduced at Spa, but Ferrari refutes this suggestion.
Binotto confirmed on a number of occasions that they cut off their development on this year’s car prematurely, explaining why Mercedes overtook them in the latter part of the year.
Car development has been an area of weakness for the team, even in the early 2010s with Fernando Alonso or 2017/18 with Vettel.
Improving this while making steps with the power unit's reliability is a key task for Vasseur.
Ferrari’s internal politics
The role of team principal at Ferrari is often seen as a poisoned chalice.
Since 2013, Ferrari have had four different men in charge of their F1 team.
Whether it’s a lack of results or a falling out with Ferrari’s management, the role is a challenging one.
According to a report by RacingNews365, CEO Benedetto Vigna “meddled” with team strategies, while chairman John Elkann did not end speculation about Binotto’s future until he was asked to do so by the Italian.
Coping with Ferrari’s senior management is another tough task for the Frenchman at the helm of F1's biggest team.
