Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has called on the Maranello-based team to copy Red Bull, in regard to how the Austrians perfect “every single topic”.
Red Bull over recent years have been flawless when it comes to race management, strategies and the reliability of their car, as proven by the fact that Max Verstappen finished every race in 2023.
Verstappen finished outside the top-two just once last season, at the Singapore Grand Prix where he had to settle for fifth.
The Singapore GP was actually won by Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz, in what was the only race of 2023 which wasn’t won by a Red Bull driver.
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Ferrari’s strategy and race management were sublime on that day at the Marina Bay Circuit; however, too often that isn’t the case.
The Italians in the past have sometimes been far too safe with their tyre choice, often costing them valuable time if those around them have opted for a more aggressive strategy.
Being more aggressive is something Vasseur has tried to implement in his first 12 months leading the Italians, with the Frenchman wanting Ferrari to learn to “not be scared” if a strategy goes wrong.
He believes that his side did improve on this in 2023, on their way to third in the Constructors’ Championship.
However, Vasseur has called on Ferrari to try and be more like Red Bull and take an “aggressive” approach to everything, even when already at the “limit”.
He does recognise that this will take time, given that Ferrari have seen several personnel changes over the past 12 months.
“You have a group of people working together for years, and when you arrive in this group, you need to understand how the group is working before taking any action or decision,” Vasseur told media including RacingNews365.
“My job was more to back the team on the fact that we have to be aggressive, that we have to take risks and be ambitious and not be scared of an incident or something like this.
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“I think we did make a step on this.
“You don’t need to have the F1 of a few years ago when the Ferrari, Red Bull and Mercedes were able to go into Q2 with a set of Mediums in Q1.
“This is behind us, and won’t happen again. You always have to be at the limit, and I think this culture, when Red Bull are performing at the limit and aggressive on every single topic is a direction we have to take, but we did a good step for year one.”