Ferrari boss looking not to repeat last year's mistakes

New Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur hopes to not repeat the mistakes his team made in 2022.

The Frenchman replaced Mattia Binotto at the end of the 2022 season after the Italian failed to lead the Scuderia to success despite a competent car.

A significant shortcoming of the Maranello-based team's performance in 2022 was their dodgy strategic calls. The team often lost a significant number of points to their competitors in 2022 due to poor calls being made by the pitwall.

Vasseur hopes to address this issue during his time at the Scuderia team and has not yet confirmed whether or not the team's head of strategy Inaki Rueda will be featured on this year's roster. A change in strategy could possibly help Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz fight for wins on a more regular basis later this year.

Speaking to Sky Italy, the Ferrari team principal said:

"On what I can bring to the team, we're at a really early stage. I spent the last 32 years of my life on the pit wall, and I will try to bring this kind of expertise to them. On the strategy, we'll have to think about this and to discuss it."

"It's not just a matter of who is the guy, it's a matter of structure and communication, factory-based guys. It's not just the visible part of the iceberg."

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Ferrari's 2023 car has lost weight: Reports

As per reports, Ferrari's 2023 F1 car has lost weight, perhaps going even below the 796 kg limit. The team had a pacey car in 2022 but failed to sustain a championship challenge against Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

Going below the 796 kg limit will allow the team to add ballast to the car to help improve its balance and performance, should they choose to do so. The Italian team struggled with tire degradation in 2022, leading to stellar performances on Saturdays but poor showings on Sundays.

Red Bull's RB18 was able to manage its tires a lot better than Ferrari's F1-75, leading to frequent race wins for the Austrian team.

Sources suggest Ferrari has developed a new lightweight chassis for 2023 which will help manage its tires and give it a better lap time overall. The success of the team's efforts, however, will not be known until the new car is fully assembled and finds its way to a weighing scale.

There are also reports that Red Bull have managed to create a chassis 3 kg lighter than the championship-winning RB18. Given the team's reduced wind tunnel testing time, however, it is unclear whether this new chassis will hold up to the rest in 2023.

With former drivers such as David Coulthard backing Ferrari in 2023, it will be interesting to see how the upcoming season develops.