Frédéric Vasseur will do a good job as Team Principal of Scuderia Ferrari, according to one of his new drivers, Carlos Sainz Jr.
Sainz has had his first chat with the incoming Team Principal, who has moved across from the same role at the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN outfit to replace the outgoing Mattia Binotto for the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.
It will be Vasseur’s third Team Principal job in Formula 1, with a single season with the Renault F1 Team in 2016 being followed by six years with the Sauber F1 Team/Alfa Romeo.
Sainz, who will begin his third season with Ferrari alongside Charles Leclerc in 2023, revealed Vasseur had wanted him to join Renault whilst he was leading the French team back in 2016, and after a brief chat with his new boss this week, he knows the Frenchman will do well at the helm of the team.
“I’ve heard very good things about him,” Sainz is quoted as saying by Motorsport.com. “I know him personally, he already wanted to sign me to go to Renault.
“I spoke to him yesterday [Tuesday], I called him and I had my first contact as a Ferrari driver. I know he’s going to do well.”
Sainz knows that anyone coming in following a change of management has ‘extra motivation’ and he believes this will be the case at Ferrari with Vasseur coming in. However, it is important to give him time to make his mark on the team, with big changes unlikely to happen overnight.
“Whenever someone new arrives, he has extra motivation, wanting to do well for himself and for the team,” said the Spaniard. “You have to give him time to see how the team works, know what changes are needed.
“Ferrari is very big and I know it will take time. It doesn’t happen from one day to the next.”
