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Vasseur faced with Ferrari 'moving target'

Name: Vasseur faced with Ferrari 'moving target'
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Published

11m ago

May 05, 2023 / 5451 Views

Evan Walker

Carlos Sainz believes Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has been faced with a "moving target" since taking over from Mattia Binotto.

The Frenchman took post in January after Binotto resigned from his role at the end of what ended as a frustrating season last year, with Charles Leclerc having fallen from title favourite after three races to a distant second by finishing 146 points behind Red Bull's Max Verstappen.

On-track struggles with reliability and tyre degradation left the Scuderia behind Red Bull, Aston Martin and Mercedes in the opening races despite sparkling one-lap pace - underlined by Leclerc in Azerbaijan with pole for both Sprint and grand prix.

But off track, Vasseur has been given a baptism of fire with changes behind the scenes at Ferrari - the latest being Laurent Mekies' impending departure to take over as AlphaTauri Team Principal at the end of the season and with a gulf between Red Bull and the chasing pack, the former Sauber CEO faces a stern test to lay the foundations for a revival for the Maranello-based outfit.

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Change in approach

Assessing Vasseur's first four months in charge, Sainz told media including TheFOXposts.Com: "I think he is definitely taking the lead 100 percent now and he is clearly pushing the team in the direction he thinks the team should go.

"It's nice to see the changes coming through and the change in approach and also seeing him take that leadership... there has been a couple of things going on at the team lately and this has given him some extra work - it's a constant moving target.

"The direction we are going is the correct one, we are more focusing on the medium-to-long-term because if you want to have an impact on the team, it has to be more at that stage."