Ferrari, Vasseur responds to the controversies
Ferrari has been targeted by controversies after the last two weekends, in Zandvoort and Monza, and Frederic Vasseur has ended up in the dock. The team principal is the primary person responsible for the confusion seen in the Netherlands from a strategic point of view and in Brianza in managing the two drivers, with Charles Leclerc having two very bad laps for a Ferrari driver in the home race.
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Leclerc was not calm at the Prima Variante, sending Lewis Hamilton into the gravel, while at Alboreto he even ended up in the wall. Vasseur’s task, however, is also to prevent skirmishes on track by clarifying roles and duties on track and commanding respect from the drivers. This did not happen in the last two weeks, and must not be repeated if Ferrari wants to maintain a faint hope of the championship.
Vasseur’s words
“Lewis and Charles have cleared things up, I reminded them of some fundamental principles of my way of managing the team. And I will continue to follow them“, Vasseur explained in an interview with Motorsport.com.
“My job is to protect the hundreds of people in the team and take responsibility. This is what I also asked of the drivers: if we want to achieve results, we must protect the team and each take our own responsibilities“.
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“I don’t ask them not to be tough. But very often with us they are much calmer than they are with the press. Then in the journalists’ headlines goes the part where they criticize the team, but Charles also said he was too aggressive, and for me that’s fine“, he added. After Monza, Hamilton complained harshly claiming that there are no rules of engagement at Ferrari: “This does not reflect reality. You cannot expect all possible track scenarios to be included in contracts. The principles are clear and the drivers know them: they know they can count on equal treatment, then there might come a time when I have to decide, if one of the two is out of the fight“.
In short, Vasseur has also clarified things with the media. The Frenchman, however, must be clear above all with the drivers: even before Monza he explained to Leclerc and Hamilton the strategy for Zandvoort and the approach to the home GP. Only to see everything fall apart after two minutes of the race.
