Fred Vasseur tells Sky Sports F1 of the recruitment challenges he faces as he seeks to revive Ferrari; Vasseur concedes Ferrari being based in Italy can impact on staff negotiations; Frenchman also bemoans length of gardening leave in F1 contracts that delays rebuild process
Friday 23 June 2023 19:53, UK
Fred Vasseur has opened up on the challenges he faces in trying to attract F1's best brains to Ferrari as he seeks to revive the Italian team.
Vasseur replaced Mattia Binotto as Ferrari team principal at the start of the year but has been enduring a tricky first season in charge with the inconsistent SF23 car proving a handful for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz to drive in many races.
The Frenchman has also had to deal with a number of key staff being poached by other teams, including head of vehicle concept David Sanchez being signed by McLaren while sporting director Laurent Mekies will be leaving to become AlphaTauri team principal.
Vasseur says Ferrari are "recruiting a lot" themselves and an unidentified big name addition will be announced "soon", but he concedes Ferrari being based in Italy - one of only four F1 teams based outside the UK - can be a handicap in the process.
"It's not the same situation - you can move from Red Bull to Mercedes, keep the same hours, keep children in the same school and from the Friday to the Monday you can change and everything is perfect," Vasseur told Sky Sports F1's Rachel Brookes at the Canadian GP.
"If you want to come to Italy, it's a different approach. You have to change the family environment and so on.
"But as soon as you are in Italy I think it's more difficult to leave - the food is much better and the quality of life in Italy is mega.
"Sometimes it can play into discussions because they have to move the family, it depends on the situation of the children, it's not always easy but as soon as we are able to attract someone they are staying.
"I had the same situation at Sauber, it was difficult to ask them to come but as soon as they were in Switzerland they stayed in Switzerland."
Ferrari have not won a world championship since claiming the constructors' title in 2008 and saw their challenge fizzle out in the second half of 2022 while they have never been in contention this year as Red Bull have streaked clear of the field.
Vasseur says he is spending a significant proportion of his time on bringing in new personnel to turnaround Ferrari's fortunes, but warned the length of 'gardening leave' in F1 contracts mean it will be years before key signings can join and impact the team.
He said: "I joined a couple of months ago, you need to understand what is the situation before you start to recruit.
"This process is a long one, they will join in 12 or 24 months and even the process of recruitment is not from one day to another, it means we are in the middle of this but it will arrive soon.
"Recruitment is where F1 is not agile at all.
"It means if you have a project, if you want to work with people, if you want to change the structure of a department - not speaking about Ferrari, in a general case - this takes months to understand what you want to do, to find the right people and then months or years to get them on board.
"It means sometimes you are speaking more about years than about races.
"Sometimes it can be frustrating because you are pushing like hell, I'm spending perhaps two thirds of my time on recruitment and we are signing contract for the end of 2024 in the best case scenario, maybe 2025."
Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey has been linked with Ferrari on multiple occasions and the design guru revealed at the Spanish GP he had twice rejected approaches to join the Italian outfit in the 1990s.
Vasseur remained coy on whether he had made a fresh approach to Newey - who recently signed a new contract at Red Bull - to join his rebuilding at Ferrari but believes the strength of the entire workforce is more important than just big-name signings.
"You have all the big names of F1. I'm asked very often the question about Max, Lewis, top engineers and so on. For sure [you would want them] but in the end it's not like this, at the end you need to understand where you are weak and not and to try to improve step by step.
"I'm not sure that the big names in F1, if they are not part of the project from the beginning, do they add value? If they join the team and want to change everything, you are speaking about two or three years plus two or three years but it would be too long.
"I think we have a good structure. We have to reinforce the team for sure and we are on this way but it's not just about big names.
"In the big teams today we are roughly 1,000 [employees] and I'm convinced the weight of the group is much more important than the weight of the individual."
Ferrari are F1's most successful team having claimed 16 constructors' championship titles, 15 drivers' championship titles and 241 race wins.
But amid their current world championship drought, Vasseur stressed that Ferrari's historical success does not mean there can be a mindset that they deserve to win.
"It's not always helpful when you think that because you are Ferrari things will come to you," Vasseur said.
"Business is absolutely not like this. It means if you want to get something you have to push for it.
"But I don't think that it's the issue of the team, they are all pushing hard, they are all trying to do their best and probably it is more the expectation from outside that 'it's Ferrari, they have to win'."
Red Bull seek to continue their winning run in 2023 as they return to their home track for the Austrian GP - watch live on Sky Sports F1 from June 30-July 2.
