Ferrari's Vasseur: New team, same job description

Frédéric Vasseur has moved to a new environment with Ferrari, but the Frenchman says his job description hasn't changed compared to his task at Sauber or Renault.

Vasseur joined Renault in 2016 as the Enstone squad's team principal following a mid-season restructuring at the French outfit.

It was a short stint however as Vasseur moved to Sauber a year later where he spent over six years at the helm of the Hinwil company that operates the Alfa Romeo F1 outfit.

Vasseur's move to Ferrari where he has succeeded former Scuderia chief Mattia Binotto is an important step for the 54-year-old who has been assumed with the daunting task of brining the title back to the House of Maranello after a 14-year dry spell.

While he's aware of the heightened expectations and responsibilities at Ferrari, Vasseur feels there is not much of a contrast between the Italian outfit and his former teams in terms of working atmosphere.

"For sure everything is a bit bigger, everything is a bit more up to date, but you can feel the same atmosphere at the end of the day because it's a racing team," he told the media last week.

"The atmosphere that they had in Enstone, at Sauber or Ferrari, I would say that it's not completely different – that motivation is the same and my job description is exactly the same

"I just have to give them all the support to do the job in their best condition."

• Read also: Vasseur laughs off reports of Ferrari engine power gains

As he opens a new chapter in his motorsport career, Vasseur believes that Ferrari is in a much better position today than Renault or Sauber were back when he made his entry into those teams.

He is also well acquainted with Ferrari, which supplied its power unit to Sauber during Vasseur's tenure at Hinwil, and will continue to do so until the Swiss team's new partner Audi takes over in 2026.

"When I joined it was a bit different because I knew the facility and the factory from the past, and from the relationship we had in the last five or six years that it was not completely unknown for me," explained Vasseur.

"If you want to speak about [the] simulator, for example, Ferrari is in a much better shape than Sauber was – on every single area I think they are a bit more advanced.

"But it's difficult to say, 'Okay, it's crystal clear that the [performance] gap is coming from this'."

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