The manager of the Italian Formula 1 team exposes the keys to becoming part of the team, which the Spanish driver does not comply with
The team manager FerrariFrederic Vasseur, insists that the team’s only priority is to improve current performance of his 2023 Formula 1 car, relegating contract negotiations with his drivers to the background. Despite the current duo of Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc having contracts with the Scuderia until the end of 2024, both drivers have recently been linked with possible moves to rival teams.
Despite recurring speculation in the Italian media about a possible addition of Lewis Hamiltonseven times world champion, Vasseur has categorically dismissed these rumors. However, facing a challenging start to the campaign, the French boss maintains that Ferrari must solve important problems before considering what the driver line-up will look like for next season.
Ferrari’s performance improvement is the current priority
“I think you asked me the same question a week ago and I told you that, for now, we have enough with the development of the car, that we have a lot to do on the technical side, and we will talk about the drivers a bit later,” said Vasseur. on the eve of the Spanish Grand Prix. Although Hamilton, who finished Sunday’s race in second place, confirmed that negotiations with Mercedes on a new contract could be finalized quickly, Ferrari maintains its focus on improving its performance.
While Mercedes jumped to second place in the Constructors’ Championship with Red Bull’s first missed double podium finish of the year, the revised package Ferrari introduced in Barcelona did not mark a dramatic change in its performance. With Leclerc out of contention after a difficult qualifying, Ferrari’s race-day woes continued as Sainz fell from first to fifth at the finish line.
Ferrari focuses on improving race by race
Following Max Verstappen’s admission that Red Bull has the ability to win every race in 2023Vasseur maintains that the intensity of the development race in F1 means that he prefers to take each event as it comes. “Honestly, I’m taking each race one after the other and thinking about the next one, as it’s hard to predict where we’ll be in terms of development six months from now,” he admitted.
Despite Sainz beat both Aston Martins last Sunday, Leclerc’s difficult weekend meant Ferrari failed to get anywhere close to the Silverstone outfit in the teams’ standings. With Mercedes Taking two cars home within the top three puts the pressure on the Italian team as they can’t find a point of stability in their car.