For tifossi fans, the bad season of 2022 seems to have its own name: Mattia Binotto. The team manager of the scarlet team in the past year was blamed for the lack of assertiveness of the car. Although there were mistakes made by the drivers, the pathetic pit stops and the fragility of the vehicle made the bad luck concentrate on him. That's why when the team boss changed this year, many believed that the curse had ended and that once the dog was dead, the rabies were over. It would be beautiful, but in motorsport things don't work that way. The bad moment of a team usually does not depend on just one person but on a series of coincidences and people who, if not perfectly synchronized, ensure chaos.
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The departure of Binotto was the gateway for the Frenchman Frédéric Vasseur. "We are facing a man who has successfully combined his technical strengths as a qualified engineer with a constant capacity for leadership to bring out the best in his drivers and teams", said Benedetto Vigna, CEO of Ferrari, during his presentation. So today Fred has the magnanimous power in the team to make a great transformation.
After these first races, Ferrari is aware that not everything is the fault of the drivers or the evolution of the car. It seems that as they can master the vehicle's settings, they should be able to gain some seconds in the races. "I have never seen a car capable of matching the pace of another in qualifying and not being able to repeat it in the race. It was a matter of setup", said Vasseur after Bahrain. An observation that makes it clear that the experienced engineer has come to get involved even in the smallest details.
The truth is that today Fred is clearer about what car he has in his hands and what possibilities he has to fight for the 2023 championship. Thus, he has decided to reduce the anxiety of the stands by stating: "To be focused on Red Bull, Mercedes, or Aston Martin, I think it would be a mistake. We have to bring out the best and focus on ourselves". Ferrari is more concerned with prioritizing updates and configurations than injecting venom into a car that, although history demands it, currently does not have enough to fight for podiums.