In F1, the crucial date of the Spanish GP in Barcelona is quick approaching. Not as a result of it is going to determine the championship or as a result of the circuit is particularly telling, however as a result of that weekend will mark the introduction of the FIA directive in opposition to extreme entrance wing and DRS flexibility on the vehicles. The race on the Spanish circuit may also be the ninth spherical of the season. Which means we’re getting nearer to the midway level of the championship. Consequently, the paddock and driver market are beginning to warmth up.
There are lots of experiences—or quite, rumors—circulating. One mustn’t imagine in coincidences. However when there are a number of, it begins to seem like proof. Just a few days in the past, it was reported that Ferrari had contacted Christian Horner to supply him Fred Vasseur’s place at Ferrari. We revealed an in-depth piece on this subject yesterday.
This information was preceded by rumors that inside relations on the Scuderia between Fred Vasseur and Benedetto Vigna will not be at their finest. We at Pit Discuss mentioned all this with the good Leo Turrini, who advised our microphones:
“Benedetto Vigna is the CEO of the corporate. Ferrari is delivering distinctive industrial, financial, and monetary outcomes. That’s the CEO’s area. However I’m certain that, exactly due to his position, Vigna isn’t pleased with the outcomes of Ferrari’s F1 crew.”
It’s onerous responsible CEO Benedetto Vigna. Over the previous three years, Ferrari has recorded extraordinary gross sales outcomes. Sponsorships are steadily growing, and buyers are competing to purchase Ferrari shares. Traders are drawn not solely by the corporate’s monetary efficiency but additionally by its sporting outcomes—particularly when the corporate was born to race, like Ferrari.
Earnings are up, however efficiency on monitor has dropped dramatically. That hurts followers and shareholders alike. And as Leo Turrini identified, it stings much more when in comparison with Ferrari’s spectacular kind within the WEC:
“Even when they’re completely different worlds, once you examine them with the outcomes achieved by the 499P Hypercar within the WEC, you begin to ask your self just a few questions. Even when, as I’ve mentioned, they’re utterly completely different realities, distinct and distant.”
In F1, 18 years have handed—together with a dozen completely different crew principals and drivers, to not point out engineers—with none actually optimistic outcomes. That is now Fred Vasseur’s third season in purple.
All of the “excuses,” though it won’t be totally honest to name them that, have run out. He has the drivers he needed, the engineers he needed. He has the crew he needed. However the automotive doesn’t carry out. So the place’s the issue? Was it a design flaw, a misunderstanding of the automotive, driving type, technique… the place? These are questions Fred should shortly discover solutions to. Particularly as a result of, as Leo Turrini emphasised to Pit Discuss:
“It’s clear that an evaluation must be made on the finish of the season on the efficiency of this administration. However that’s at all times the case—it’s nothing new for Fred Vasseur.” – he identified.
One of many key voices in that analysis will likely be CEO Benedetto Vigna himself, who could properly level out the heavy investments made by the crew principal in return for outcomes that to date have been disappointing. Assume again to Might 2022: Mattia Binotto was nonetheless main Ferrari, additionally attempting to “perceive” the crew’s issues, however at the least again then Ferrari was combating for the championship.
That combat ended shortly after the summer season break, however the first half of the 2022 season wasn’t that unhealthy. Is it time to remorse shedding Binotto? Most likely not. However the second of reckoning is approaching—and numbers nearly by no means lie.
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