Vasseur and Charles Leclerc
The biography En Piste tells the motorsport career of Frederic Vasseur, with various anecdotes and thoughts from the Ferrari team principal himself and key figures in his professional journey.
Fred Vasseur also spoke about his current drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, starting with the Monegasque – with whom he did not hide a certain closeness: “There are several drivers I have been very close to, but nothing that comes close to the visceral attachment I have for Charles. We don’t always need to talk. We look at each other and understand each other. With Lewis it’s a bit different. There is a deep relationship of trust. I know I can trust him, he knows he can trust me. We met 20 years ago, but I don’t have the complicity I have with Charles. I have a relationship with him that goes beyond the professional sphere“.
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And Leclerc, in an intervention published in the book, confirmed the special bond with his team principal: “Fred is one of the most beautiful and fruitful encounters of my life! I feel like I have always had him by my side throughout my career. He has been there at every level I have passed and if I am here today, with a level of performance that allows me to aim for the world championship title, it is thanks to the work he has done alongside me all these years. Fred has been my luck and is the luck of the Scuderia. He gives that trust without which nothing is possible”.
The relationship with Hamilton
A part is also dedicated to the other Ferrari driver, Lewis Hamilton. Vasseur recalls their first meeting in the junior categories: “He was already extremely brave as an Englishman to come to a French structure. If it hadn’t worked, they would have torn him apart. In him I found the same courage, otherwise he wouldn’t have come with us. I also found the same emotional side. In the 12 months before his arrival in Maranello, he imagined, re-imagined, and re-imagined the scene again. The photo where he poses in front of the F40 says a lot, humanly speaking, and reveals his attention to detail. Lewis leaves nothing to chance, at any level”.
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And about the negotiation to snatch Hamilton from Mercedes, Vasseur recalled: “At first it was all in a joking tone, a few months after my arrival at Ferrari. You make a joke and see how he reacts. We talked more seriously on May 28, at his house, on the occasion of the Monte Carlo race. It was my birthday. The situation was bizarre, because he was about to sign a renewal with Mercedes and we already had two drivers under contract. We parted saying it would be complicated. But then he came back to me a few weeks later saying he had a one-year contract with an option for another year in his favor. At that point the way was clear and we agreed. He had Ferrari in his mind for a long, very long time and the planets aligned”.
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Vasseur spoke about the iconic photo of Hamilton in front of the F40 on his first day in Maranello: “The famous photo with a billion views put all the spotlight on us, in an Italy where everything is extremely emotional. It would have been better if we had stayed under the radar…”.
The French manager then emphasized: “Ferrari has always positioned itself above its drivers and perhaps for the very first time had to deal with an individual endowed with the same kind of aura. When Michael Schumacher arrived in Maranello, he was far from the planetary dimension of a Lewis”.
