“I signed a top guy a couple of weeks ago to join in 2025”: Ferrari F1’s road to recovery stalled by delay in signings

Ferrari's road to the top of the sport has been stalled due to the prolonged nature of F1 signings, claims team principal Fred Vasseur. The Scuderia failed to deliver in 2023, with both, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggling to understand the highly inconsistent SF-23.

To make matters worse for the Italian team, key personnel have made a curious exit from Maranello to join other teams.

Head of vehicle concept David Sanchez will be going to McLaren to help the team with their title hopes while current Scuderia sporting director Laurent Mekies will switch to AlphaTauri by the end of the year.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur claims that the team has acquired a top figure, but the person in question will only be able to join the team in 2025. Current gardening leave in the sport means that it will take a minimum of a year before teams can sign major personnel.

Speaking to media in Canada, Vasseur said:

“But the reality of our business is that when you want to steer the boat a little bit, then we are not agile anymore. We know that if we want to recruit, we are speaking not in days, we are speaking in years."

“I signed a top guy a couple of weeks ago to join in 2025. He will only work on the car in 2025 and 2026."

F1 pundit believes Carlos Sainz is under pressure at Ferrari

F1 pundit Fred Ferret believes that Ferrari driver Carlos Sainz is under pressure given his current performances in 2023. While the Spaniard is struggling with an inconsistent car, Sainz has been mediocre at best so far this year.

In Canada, Sainz started the race in P11 after receiving a five-place grid penalty for impeding during qualifying. It was a miracle the Ferrari driver made it to qualifying at all, as he suffered a heavy crash in FP3, demanding quick work from the Scuderia team.

While the driver did manage to recover thanks to a half-decent strategy from the team, the most he could manage in Montreal was fifth place.

The team has brought upgrades to its SF-23 but the car is still lightyears away from regularly challenging Red Bull at the front. Ferret said about Sainz on the F1 Nation podcast:

"Carlos is struggling because of the pressure he is feeling. He had an accident, he had an impeding in FP3 and then he says, 'Ok, I have a good car I made a mistake. I'm not driving well because I don't see someone.'"

He added:

"You could see yesterday that there was Tsunoda going and there is Pierre coming. Just like: Do I turn right or left to exit the motorway, that's exactly the same for Carlos."

With the bulk of the season yet to go, it will be interesting to watch the Spaniard's progress.