Ferrari appear to be in complete turmoil as things stand, with Frederic Vasseur’s list of jobs seemingly mounting by the day.
It certainly hasn’t been the transition of power that the Frenchman would’ve been hoping for, after leaving the security of Alfa Romeo.
The start of Vasseur’s reign as Ferrari’s team principal has been nothing short of a disaster, and to be fair to Vasseur, none of it has been his fault.
Ferrari’s big issue is still their higher powers, with chairman John Elkann and CEO Benedetto Vigna continuing to infuriate those working at Maranello.
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In the space of a month, Ferrari have lost two key members of the team, with former head of vehicle concept David Sanchez having returned to McLaren, whilst it was confirmed yesterday that sporting director Laurent Mekies would be moving to AlphaTauri to become their new team principal in 2024.
Both are incredibly talented and will more likely than not do incredibly well in their new positions, with Ferrari’s loss most certainly being McLaren’s and AlphaTauri’s gain.
It’s been speculated that Mekies wanted to leave following the departure of Mattia Binotto, after the Italian was effectively forced out of the door.
Mekies was forced to stay at Ferrari due to clauses in his contract, with Vasseur having also been keen to keep hold of the Frenchman.
Vasseur told the media how integral Mekies was to Ferrari’s future, perhaps making him out to be his right-hand man.
For Mekies to have left leaves Vasseur with another to issue to fix, with the experienced leader perhaps being in need of a stern conversation with Ferrari’s hierarchy.
The Maranello-based team’s on-track performance is enough to be concerned about without even considering what’s happening back at the factory, with the team currently fourth in the Constructors’ Championship.
Charles Leclerc is also becoming more vocally critical about the team’s performance, especially given that he’s retired from two races already this year.
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Vasseur ultimately needs to be granted control by Elkann and Vigna to manage the team the way he wants to, rather than with whispers in his ears.
Should the Frenchman be allowed to get on with his job then he may be able to steer the Italians into the right direction, something which could stop the dramatic loss of talent.
Togetherness and resilience are the only things which will see Ferrari overcome their current difficulties, not the chaos and constant disruption of personnel departures which are currently ongoing.