Ferrari and Formula One glory once upon a time used to be synonymous with each other and being the only team which has competed each year in the sport the Scuderia yet hold many of the F1 records.
With 243 Grand Prix victories the Scuderia top the constructors’ table with McLaren behind on 183. Despite their dominance since the introduction of the V6 Turbo hybrid power units Mercedes sit just third on 125 with Williams resting on former glory sitting one ahead of Red Bull on 114.
Ferrari impressive records
When it comes to podium finishes Ferrari are out of sight racking up 807 whilst Mercedes and Red Bull are adrift with 313 and 289 respectively.
And in terms of constructor titles again Ferrari dominate the tally with 16 ahead of Williams with 9, McLaren and Mercedes have 8 and Red Bull’s count is just 6 to date.
Yet recent history has not been kind to the Italian motorsport giants. Their last title was the ayer Lewis Hamilton claimed the drivers’ championship back in 2008 and the last Ferrari pilot to win the drivers’ championship was Kimi Raikkonen the previous year as he pipped the McLaren pairing of Alonso and Hamilton by a single point.
The closest the team came to winning a championship since was with Fernando Alonso in 2012 saw Sebastian Vettel drove through almost the entire field in the final round to secure sixth place and the championship just 3 points ahead of the Spaniard.
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Expectations are always high in Italy as Christian Horner explains in an interview this week with Sky F1. “Ferrari is a different type of team, a national team,” Horner suggests.
“There is a pressure which comes with that and the Italian media is absolutely brutal and scrutinise every move. There is just huge expectation. Fred (Vasseur) is a capable guy and a racer and Ferrari are a big animal in F1. Expectation will be very high for them [in 2024].”
Indeed pressure and expectations are high and it is tough on the team principal. Since the glorious reign of Jean Todt (1993-2007) when the team won six consecutive constructor titles and Schumacher claimed five consecutive driver championships, there have been five team principals in just sixteen years.
And the pressure not only comes from the Italian media and the tifosi, but also from the Ferrari hierarchy and grandees.
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Ferrari finished second in the championship in 2022 and CEO Benedetto Vigna claimed this was the first of the losers placing. One year later the Scuderia slipped behind Mercedes to third place which must not have pleased the likes of John Elian (president) and Vigna.
When Vasseur was appointed Ferrari team principal just over a year ago, it was reported in the Italian press that Vigna was micro managing the Frenchman and being involved in the day to day running of the team. This hardly inspires confidence for a new incumbent who was appointed last minute following the sacking of his predecessor.
Now the Ferrari boss insists he doesn’t need the likes of Vigna to tell him he should be upset over finishing third behind Mercedes. Unlike Binotto before him who refused to talk to the British media for half a season, Fred has the air of someone who is unflappable and when asked if there had been any discussions with Ferrari higherarchy over the disappointing 2023, Vasseur explained:
Vasseur unconcerned
“We didn’t wait for the end of the championship to discuss it but the advantage at Ferrari is that we have daily discussions, we are not far away.”
“Nobody can be happy with what we did at the beginning of the season,” added Vasseur, who joined Ferrari from Sauber last winter.
“We had too many issues with reliability and I was the first one upset with this – and performance.”
Ferrari believed their engine department had found improved pace over the winter due to reliability fixes made, which mean the power unit could be run at a higher output level. Yet reliability was again the curse of Ferrari in 2023 as Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz suffered from mechanical failures in the early rounds of the season.
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Ferrari comeback was impressive
By the time this was fixed, Vasseur’s team were a long way behind but recovered well hunting down Mercedes over the final few races. The gap was over 70 points at one stage, but Formula One’s most famous team clawed this back and finished just three behind the German squad.
In Brazil, Leclerc had claimed pole but suffered from mechanical failure during the formation lap scoring zero and in Las Vegas Carlos Sainz car was destroyed by a lose drain cover which saw him take a 10 place grid penalty again costing him and the team the chance to overhaul Mercedes.
Vasseur prefers to reflect on Ferrari’s comeback during the year rather than their start:
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“I think, more than everything, that the reaction of group, the reaction of the team, the fact we were able to… I am not a big fan of statistics, but we had something like five pole positions out of the last eight events, the fact we were able to fight with Max on some occasions during the races also was a good step forward.
“Even if we are not happy – and again, I am the first one, I do not need Mr Vigna or Mr Elkann telling me, I am not happy with P3, this is clear – but I am more than happy with the reaction of the team and I think this feeling is the same for everybody.”
Ferrari like Mercedes are building an all new car for 2024 and Fred claims is “95% new components”. For both Mercedes and Ferrari it will be a challenge to get on top of their racing prototype with no just three days of pre-season testing allowed.
McLaren by comparison made their big car design concept shift last season and along with Red Bull their 2024 challenger will be more ‘evolution’ than ‘revolution.’
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With over 30 years of experience in Formula 1 as an insider journalist, I have built trusted connections across the paddock, from race engineers and mechanics to senior team figures. At The Judge 13, I and a handful of trusted colleagues share exclusive Formula 1 news, expert analysis and behind-the-scenes stories you will not find in mainstream motorsport media.
Always we believed in ferrari and the best thing that has ever happened was to get team principal fred vassuer, he knows what he is doing, ferrari will be much stronger in this years season. We never doubted the abilities of fred when other were slagging ferrari off we have always been there for them and we always will. Such a great team, with great drivers. Forza ferrari.