Fred Vasseur has been signed to replace outgoing Mattia Binotto as Ferrari’s Formula 1 boss for the 2023 season, the team confirmed on Tuesday.
Vasseur, who has been the Alfa Romeo team principal since 2017, is expected to take over the job after Binotto and Ferrari confirmed their split following the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
He will inherit a competitive Ferrari car that has won four races and took 12 pole positions with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz in 2022 but has failed to challenge for the title.
Vasseur is tasked with ending Ferrari’s championship drought – the team has not won a driver’s title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 or a constructor’s title since 2008.
“I am truly delighted and honored to take on the leadership role of Scuderia Ferrari,” said Vasseur. “As someone with a lifelong passion for motorsport, Ferrari has always represented the pinnacle of the motorsport world. I look forward to working with the talented and truly passionate team at Maranello to honor that honor the history and heritage of the Scuderia and deliver to our Tifosi around the world.”
The move reunites Vasseur with Ferrari superstar driver Leclerc after overseeing his rookie campaign at Alfa Romeo in 2018.
Leclerc is increasingly frustrated with Ferrari’s strategy under Binotto in the final races of 2022.
The move is a huge step up the competition order for Vasseur after a brief stint as Renault boss in 2016 before six seasons at Alfa.
Alfa’s release confirming Vasseur’s departure hugely commends the work he’s done.
“The progress on and off the road leads to growing confidence in Hinwil: the belief that this team can once again be at the bottom of the grid; the belief that things will get better after the season. ; the belief that top talent will once again flourish in the unique reality of motorsport in the Zürcher Oberland All this stems from Fred’s own sense of confidence: not in himself. himself, but on the project that was presented to him in 2017 – a project he was one of the first to believe in.
“Vasseur leaves a team supported by new partners, a growing workforce, and with a bright future as a workgroup for a manufacturer not far away. He’s out. go as a friend, a mentor, a boss who can get the best out of his responsibilities: and, as we enter a new chapter in our team’s history, we I will miss the smiles and jokes that accompanied him as he made the rounds in our Hinwil Headquarters.”
Vasseur is respected by rival riders and team leaders in motor racing.
He and Nicholas Todt formed the ART Grand Prix team that won the GP2 championship alongside Nico Rosberg in 2005 and Lewis Hamilton in 2006.
