Leclerc 'very impressed' with Vasseur's first weeks on the job

Charles Leclerc says he's been "very impressed" by what he's seen so far from new Ferrari boss Frédéric Vasseur, praising the Frenchman for how he introduced himself to the team.

Vasseur arrived at Maranello in early January to take over the reins of the Scuderia from his predecessor Mattia Binotto who handed in his resignation at the end of last season.

The former Alfa Romeo F1 boss is still in the process of getting up to speed with Ferrari's various departments but after Vasseur's first month on the job, Leclerc was left with a very positive impression of his former mentor and Sauber team boss.

"I was very impressed by how well he introduced himself in the team," Leclerc said at Ferrari's launch last week of its 2023 car.

"Ferrari is very different to whatever we are used to before. Ferrari is huge. And once he got here, he understood extremely well the way Ferrari works from the first few days.

©Ferrari

"He's very clear in what he wants and he's extremely good at putting the people in the right mindset and in the right ambiance to give their best. And this is very important.

"So, that's what he brings to Ferrari and I'm sure it will be a good thing."

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After five years at Sauber managing the Alfa Romeo F1 team, Vasseur stepped into a new environment at Maranello, the scale of which is almost double the size of Hinwil.

But save for the local cuisine which has seen him add a few pounds to his frame, there have been little changes to Vasseur's work regimen and to his approach of managing an F1 outfit.

"As I expected, I gained two or three kilos during the first three or four weeks!" joked Vasseur.

"The team is larger, but ultimately, it's not problematic. The DNA and approach are much more important than the size of the company.

"I think managing a team is different from managing another business because there is no need to motivate people. The motivation is there, motivation is very powerful in management," added the Frenchman.

"The size of the company is not a big problem when you're a thousand people: you just deal with the first two or three rows. You can't go into detail with everyone. The approach is therefore similar in managing an outfit like Sauber and Ferrari.

"The big difference, I would say, is that expectations are different, the pressure is different, but I think you can take the pressure positively.

"And of course, the feeling and atmosphere within the team are different. As Carlos [Sainz] said, I think this is the only team where, when you arrive at the factory at 7 a.m., there are already people waiting for us outside.

"You can feel the motivation and the atmosphere surrounding the team, it's a great source of motivation for everyone."