Leo Turini on Frederic Vasseur and John Elkann

Usually, journalists who write about motorsports do not really hide their fan preferences, but try not to advertise them. But this may not apply to Italian journalists. For example, Leo Turini never hid his special relationship with Ferrari, sincerely rejoiced at his successes for at least half a century and no less bitterly experienced his defeats.

Now in the history of the Scuderia, another difficult period, and here’s how Turini assesses what happens to his beloved team in 2023…

In my opinion, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz work together quite normally, so it’s not a lack of cooperation. They try to use their experience and racing instincts as much as possible, and it’s quite normal for everyone to try to get ahead of their partner. The paradox is that it becomes important to the driver just when the car doesn’t allow you to fight for victories. Then there is nothing to do but show everyone that you are faster and better than the man who drives exactly the same car.

Sainz and Leclerc do not think about the title fight, so they try to achieve superiority over each other. At the same time, they are completely loyal to the team, and this shows a certain dualism, since they also have to work together.

If we talk about Frederic Vasseur, then it is too early to evaluate his work. Every leader needs time to prove himself. Perhaps nothing can be said until a year from now, when it will become clear what changes are taking place in the team, which specialists have joined, what results it shows.

This year he found himself in a situation where everyone would have had a really hard time: Vasseur joined the team when the car was ready, the team was formed by Mattia Binotto and both drivers had signed long-term contracts. And I would say the same if he came, and Ferrari would immediately win seven Grands Prix in a row. In general, we will come back to this topic in a year. But he gives the impression of a self-confident and very purposeful person.

I have no doubt that Vasseur already understood the limitations that hinder the efficient work of the Ferrari engineering department. If Loïc Serra, known for his work at Mercedes, really joins the team – I say “if” because in such cases you always have to wait for official confirmation – then this will be a good addition.

Of course, one specialist is not enough, it is necessary to create a full-fledged structure. I well remember that at the heart of the “dream team”, once founded by Luca di Montezemolo, there was a whole group of specialists, think of Ross Brown, Rory Burn and others. There were many of them and they all worked very well together. I don’t believe in one-man theatre. Even a genius like Adrian Newey alone cannot bring about radical change.

It is important to invite competent and ambitious specialists to the team and correctly distribute the areas of responsibility. I want to emphasize that no one should be fired at Ferrari. Remember what happened with Aldo Costa, James Ellison, Lorenzo Sassi… Everyone who moved from the Scuderia to other teams worked there with great success. It is necessary to achieve the integration of new people into the existing team, and it seems to me that Vasser is doing just that.

But towards John Elkann, the president of Ferrari, I have a very critical attitude. Everyone knows he never had a passion for racing, but he has a right to it. But he must do everything he can to make the Scuderia one of the contenders for victory. It is not necessary to always win, but you should at least really fight for victories.

I would add that John has an important merit: it was he who wanted Ferrari to return to Le Mans and win there. I hope it’s clear that he shouldn’t be paying less attention to Formula 1 now. He’s been president of the company for five years now and probably won’t want to be remembered as a loser when it comes to the racing side of things.