Ferrari will enter the 2023 season with fresh hope, as the team have replaced former team principal Mattia Binotto with the proven Fred Vasseur in a bid to improve their fortunes this year.
The team started strong under the major regulation changes last year, building up a healthy lead in both championships with Charles Leclerc while Red Bull and Mercedes struggled.
Red Bull’s impressive development of the RB-18 combined with Ferrari’s catalogue of issues quickly saw the energy drink giants catch up with the Scuderia however, before going on to comfortably win both titles.
Strategy blunders and an unreliable power unit were the downfall of Ferrari last year and fans of the team will be hoping that Fred Vasseur can lead the team to a more successful and consistent 2023.
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Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa has now spoken out about the Frenchman’s appointment, outline exactly what he believes Vasseur has to fix if the Scuderia are to have a successful season.
“First of all I think Charles is doing a fantastic job. He’s a great driver, he really deserves to be in a competitive car,” Massa told Swiat Wyscigow.
“He deserves to have the opportunity to fight for the championship as a driver. But I think they need to fix the problem. They need to improve the things that are not working – on the strategy but also on so many other things.
“They have mechanical issues at the beginning of the season. They had problems in the pit stop, many, many problems in the strategy.
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“In the end, to win the championship, everything needs to be perfect. For me, when you have a season like that, it’s important to fix things in the right way.
“If you start to change things and you change for the wrong way, that is not good. So you need to change things in the right way and fix them quickly.”
Formula 1 fans have suggested that Mattia Binotto was not the root of the problems at Ferrari, claiming that the strategy team also needs to change if the team wish to eradicate the mistakes that they made in 2022.
Vasseur will see his drivers in action for the first time later this month, as Ferrari take part in a private three-day test near their factory in Maranello before unveiling their 2023 car in February.