This winter, a key topic for Fred Vasseur is the contracts of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz. Both expire at the end of 2024, and renewal negotiations have started.
Recently, the president of Ferrari, John Elkann, showed clear confidence in retaining both drivers.
“Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will certainly continue with us” in a relationship where all parties are happy and want to continue.
Equal treatment for both drivers, who are fully involved in 2024 development
The driver pair has been spoken of several times as one of Ferrari’s strong points in recent years. A right mix of experience, youth, talent, application and above all a lot of teamwork.
There is a good relationship between the two and, above all, the desire to bring Ferrari back to success in the world championship after this long absence.
The work within the Maranello team goes full steam ahead for 2024:
“The two drivers are fully involved in the development. They were also quite happy, but this is not an indication of how the season will go,”
Vasseur immediately clarified this to avoid misunderstandings or premature raising of expectations. The former Alfa Romeo boss explained that the two drivers are enjoying a few days’ break and will return to Maranello on January 9-10.
“They were exhausted, but we all are. After Abu Dhabi, there were tests, then an event in Saudi Arabia and then they returned here to work on the simulator. Now it’s right to have 2-3 weeks off.”
Time is short, but Vasseur has clear ideas:
“The goal is to renew them before next season, yes”.
He does not hide that the timeframe has taken longer than initially expected.
“The last part of the year was a bit of chaos, and we only started discussions for the renewal recently. We are behind Mercedes, which announced the renewals of both its drivers in August, but this does not represent a problem,” specified the Ferrari boss.
The Monegasque and the Spaniard had a season of ups and downs, which Vasseur also explains due to the difficulties of the calendar. Still, the performance of Leclerc and Sainz is not under scrutiny. The team is happy with both:
“We have two drivers who finished with almost the same score,” due to the treatment that Vasseur had repeatedly emphasised as being fair.
“We found ourselves here talking about first and second drivers, and I assured them that they would be treated the same way. And I think we proved it.”
The most striking example Vasseur used was Carlos Sainz’s victory in Singapore, where Ferrari prioritised the Spaniard:
“Charles agreed to start with the Softs to overtake and block Russell, and they worked well together.”
The two have alternated good spells of form in different parts of the season. We have analysed the start and end of the Monegasque’s season, while Sainz had his peak immediately after the summer break in Monza and Singapore.
Vassuer: “We didn’t lose P2 in Abu Dhabi. Damage to Las Vegas? It would be right if someone paid us”
The season finale was disappointing for Ferrari, despite Charles Leclerc’s podium and the attempt to use Sergio Perez against George Russell to take the Ferrari to second place in the constructors’ championship.
Carlos Sainz’s performance was insufficient, not finding a rhythm throughout the weekend and causing an accident during FP1. The Frenchman, however, immediately clarifies that “We didn’t lose P2 in Abu Dhabi but with the performances at the beginning of the season like Miami, Barcelona and Zandvoort.”
Vassuer was asked specifically about Sainz’s season since he previously approached the #55 at Renault and Alfa Romeo.
He underlined that Sainz won a race and claimed several pole positions. The Frenchman also mentioned the climate of collaboration between the two drivers, which is very positive for the team.
Between Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, the Spaniard was involved in two major accidents that heavily damaged his Ferrari. In retrospect, Vasseur was asked if the team could not have acted differently with the management of the chassis and Power Unit at the last race:
“We changed the chassis after the FP1 in Las Vegas and then adjusted some components after FP2 in Abu Dhabi, but this was not the problem”.
According to the Maranello boss, Sainz had some problems of a different nature in Abu Dhabi. These, in hindsight, would change his approach to the weekend.
And as for Las Vegas, the issue is still sore:
“You know how it works in recent years. These practices always last years. We discussed it a few days ago and reopened the case, but it would be right.”
What Vasseur described as being “right” was financial compensation to the team for the incident.
Vasseur: “Verstappen to Ferrari? Everyone would like it… If I hired Lewis every time I spoke to him, it would cost me a fortune.”
Although Ferrari looks to continue with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, rumours also emerged during the season that suggested otherwise. Rumours emerge from nothing in the paddock, like a simple chat between two prominent figures from different teams.
This is how Vasseur describes the rumours about contract talks with Lewis Hamilton:
“I’ve been talking to 20 years with Lewis, as I speak with most of the grid, which has already driven for me. In Baku, we had a discussion, and everything started from there.”
From here, the Frenchman indulged in a few jokes – as he usually does – to extinguish the rumours: “If he signed a contract for every time we speak to each other, it would cost me a fortune”.
However, another name hovers over Maranello, which would constitute the current dream duo (or one of many) on today’s Formula 1 grid. We are talking about the three-time world champion Max Verstappen.
“Never say never,” said Vasseur, although this is hardly a realistic move in the short term.
“I think that if you ask the 10 Team Principals on the grid, they would all be happy to have Max.”
Vasseur remains relatively neutral on this topic. On paper, seeing the best driver on the grid in a Ferrari is always something special.
However, “with a contract until 2025 or beyond, I don’t even know when it ends,” Verstappen is firmly tied to Red Bull.
Authors: Giuliano Duchessa, Paolo D’Alessandro & Andrea Vergani
