ITLAY: The 54-year-old Fred Vasseur, who led Sauber for five years, has signed with Ferrari. The Frenchman left Sauber earlier today on an eventful day for F1.
Fred Vasseur is set to become F1 team principal
Mattia Binotto, who resigned from his position in charge of Ferrari’s F1 operations at the end of last month, will be replaced by Fred Vasseur.
Starting on January 9, he will officially be the general manager and team principal for the Scuderia Ferrari F1 team.
Fred Vasseur expressed his delight to assume the leadership of Scuderia Ferrari as Team Principal, calling it an honour. He added that Ferrari has always represented the very top of the racing world for someone as passionate about motorsports as himself.
He said he was looking forward to working with the Italian team based in Maranello. He promised to honour the rich racing history and heritage of Scuderia Ferrari and to deliver for the Ferrari fans, fondly called “Tifosi.”
Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, expressed his happiness and welcomed Fred Vasseur to Ferrari as the Team Principal.
Vigna, talking about Fred Vasseur, said thathe has consistently been able to extract the best in his drivers and teams while successfully combining his technical strengths as a trained engineer throughout his career. Vigna felt that Vasseur’s strategy and leadership skills were crucial to driving Ferrari forward with transformed vigour.
Reports previously arose out of Italy ahead of the F1 season finale in Abu Dhabi that Mattia Binotto would leave the group and that Vasseur would succeed the Swiss.
Vasseur’s appointment as team principal is part of Ferrari’s push to end an F1 title dry spell tracing back to 2007. The Italian team failed to challenge Red Bull for both titles despite being quicker than Red Bull at the initial stages of the 2022 season.
Ferrari will benefit from Vasseur’s lengthy career in motorsport, during which he co-founded the ART Grand Prix junior team, which supported Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Nico Rosberg as they progressed through the ranks in Formula racing.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc made his F1 debut at Sauber in 2018 under Vasseur’s direction, and he said last week in Bologna that he liked Vasseur’s management style.
Vasseur contributed to the turnaround of Sauber. During his time there, the team raced under the Alfa Romeo name since 2019. The team had struggled financially for years.
This year, the team finished sixth in the constructors’ standings, its best performance in a decade. Additionally, the team agreed to become Audi’s works F1 operation when it joins the grid in 2026.
Also Read: Mercedes Launches AMG-GT2 Race Car with 707 Horsepower
