Fred Vasseur joined Ferrari as their team principal last year and it wasn’t a smooth ride for him and the team. They had a very difficult start to the campaign where the 2023 package was extremely tough to handle for both their drivers.
Nonetheless, the only non-Red Bull victory in 2023 was Carlos Sainz’s in Singapore. Ferrari made clear progress as the season went on, too.
Mercedes team Principal, Toto Wolff who is also a close friend of Vasseur, has stated that the Frenchman and Ferrari deserve the win after a difficult and disappointing 2023 season.
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc delivered a conformable 1-2, and the Monegasque’s fastest lap gave the team the maximum 44 points available. Ferrari’s last 1-2 was at the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen retired after a brake issue, and Ferrari managed to pull off a flawless day from there — their hard work over the winter paid off.
“First of all, I’m happy for Ferrari, I’m happy for Fred. He deserves that,” Wolff said.
Last year in Melbourne, Leclerc crashed in the opening lap of the Australian Grand Prix as he had contact with Stroll. Sainz dropped out of the points with a penalty for hitting Fernando Alonso. Ferrari looked in big trouble back then.
However, the calm Frenchman has turned things around as the Italian team clearly has the second fastest car in F1 at the moment.
“Last year, we were flying together and on the flight, Dubai to Melbourne [with] Emirates, he had a disc [in his spine] that jumped out and he couldn’t sit or sleep. He was standing in the aeroplane for 13 hours.”
“Then, one of his cars crashed out and the other one finished P4 [before the penalty was applied], and it looked disastrous. He had the pressure for all of Italy and now he’s had a 1-2,” Wolff said.
Although Mercedes had a shocking weekend at Albert Park as both drivers failed to finish, the Austrian was clearly very happy for his friend.
“As much as I hate our situation, [Vasseur] deserves that. Ferrari deserves that. And Italy deserves it.”
Wolff also saved praise for Carlos Sainz following his remarkable recovery from appendix surgery during the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix weekend.
“Carlos deserves it — after not only the appendix but also basically being told ‘You’re not here anymore’. And bang! You can see what some human power can do when it needs to.”
Mercedes on the other hand, had a very disappointing weekend with two DNFs in Australia. Lewis Hamilton had to retire from the race after a power unit failure and George Russell had a huge crash on the last lap of the race while he was chasing Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin for P6.
