Fred Vasseur has been the chief architect of Ferrari’s resurgence and culture shift, but don’t call it the ‘Fred effect’ to his face. For Vasseur, the Scuderia’s transformation is all about teamwork and risk management.
Leading Ferrari is often described as the toughest job in motorsport, given the team’s storied history, immense expectations, and deeply ingrained habits.
Yet Vasseur has managed to instill a newfound confidence and adaptability within the Italian outfit’s crews.
However, the Scuderia’s odds of fighting for the title seemed remote when the first half of the season concluded at the end of July.
The euphoria that followed Charles Leclerc’s dominant home win in Monaco was dampened by a significant development misstep involving a new floor introduced in Barcelona. The flawed component derailed the team’s progress through the first part of the summer.
Nevertheless, back at Maranello, Ferrari’s engineers listened, learned, and set about correcting their mistakes. Their efforts culminated in a new floor element introduced at the team’s home race in Monza.
Further enhancements implemented in Singapore, including a new front wing, cemented the Scuderia’s turnaround and heralded their return to the sharp end of the grid.
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“We had a tough moment after Monaco – but we were able to have a good recovery after this sequence,” Vasseur explained in an interview with F1.com’s Lawrence Barretto.
“As a team, it was a good move. Sometimes it’s difficult to react when you’re in this kind of situation. The team did a very good job to come back.
“We had a good sequence. For sure we missed some points in Baku, but from the summer break, I think we’ve done a good job.”
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Ferrari’s resilience during this period marked a departure from the team’s past, where mistakes often snowballed under pressure.
This shift is directly attributable to Vasseur’s guidance and vision. His approach encourages risk-taking and learning from errors -- a mindset that is slowly but surely becoming ingrained in Ferrari’s DNA.
Under Vasseur, Ferrari staff have been empowered to take creative risks without fear of blame. It’s a culture shift within the team that fosters a supportive and collaborative environment.
"I just want to have people working as a team, for the team," he said. "I want them to be aggressive, taking risks. The motivation is there. You don’t need to motivate the people here, sometimes you have to even calm them down a little bit.
"The capacity to take risk and to assess the risk management is crucial in your business. We have to accept that you won’t blame someone if they are doing a mistake.
“It’s a culture, it’s not just a decision. We have to accept and take more risk, we have to manage these risks and we have to accept we will make mistakes. We will learn from this. We are in this process.”
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As Ferrari enters the final stretch of the season, Vasseur remains focused on the task at hand and is not getting carried away by the recent success.
Despite Ferrari’s position as genuine contenders for their first constructors’ championship since 2008, Vasseur is keeping expectations in check.
“I don’t want to speak about it – my only focus is performance for the next session,” he adds.
“I try to keep the team on this approach. We are just focused on the next event, on the development in the short-term and mid-term – but we don’t think about the championship at all.
“By far it’s the best situation. All the media are focused on Red Bull and McLaren [and not Ferrari] – this is mega for us!”
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