Ferrari Team Principal 'Always Worried' Because It's His Job

Tuesday, 19 December 2023 at 05:00

Ferrari Formula One team principal Frederic Vasseur confessed being in his position can be quite a stressful job.

The two most stressful jobs in F1 currently include being a teammate of the triple World Champion Max Verstappen and being a Ferrari team principal.

The first one is obvious, as the Dutchman completely outperformed almost all of his teammates in the past, mainly and most memorably, Sergio Perez in 2023.

The second one, however, might not be so clear to everybody. Scuderia Ferrari is one of the teams in F1 with the longest traditions, the biggest fan bases, and the greatest success, which sets very high expectations for the team's performance in the present.

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Frederic Vasseur came into the team at the beginning of the season 2023 and was able to make great progress with Scuderia. On the other hand, he revealed he is always worried. As he told Sky Italy"

"I'm always worried because it's my job to! Even if you are only focused on yourself it's important not to be arrogant."

Ferrari's performances have been up and down from weekend to weekend throughout 2022, and Vasseur wasn't able to prevent the oscillations even in 2023.

"I've been doing this job for six years and it's always a good lesson of humility because you can do a good job one Sunday, then the Sunday after you are nowhere."

Besides some short-term setbacks, the team principal steers the Italian team towards improvement as that is the only way to get back to the top.

"It's a normal process. It's not to be worried...we just need to improve everywhere and this is the most important message."

The 55-year-old mentioned it once before, and he reiterated his point that there is not one special secret innovation that makes Red Bull faster, it's incremental improvements in multiple areas.

"It's not that Red Bull have a magic bullet that puts them four-tenths ahead. They are probably better than us with 10 things worth four hundredths. We need to do small steps everywhere and keep this mindset."