General
Piero Ferrari backs Vasseur and his approach: 'He deserves confidence'
- Toby McLuskie
Piero Ferrari is 100 per cent behind newly recruited team boss Frederic Vasseur. Ferrari's vice-president knows that it takes time to rebuild and become successful. That the Maranello-based racing stable plans to attract many people from outside is fine by him.
"We have to give him time to put his hands in the trouble. He is someone who knows racing well, he has been in the business for years, he deserves confidence," Piero Ferrari at Autosprint assessed Vasseur. The Frenchman has made no bones about the need to attract a lot of outside personnel to become more competitive again.
Ferrari is very much lobbying Red Bull Racing, although it is unknown how much success that has had so far. Piero, the second and only surviving son of Enzo Ferrari, supports that plan by Vasseur:"We need people from different backgrounds. If we go back in history, when we made real changes in the organisation, by bringing in staff from other teams, the results could be seen. We are good at certain things, but for other things you need specialists to be brought in from outside."
Ever talks Newey and Ferrari
One such specialist might have been Adrian Newey, for example. Red Bull's top designer recently signed on for several years at Milton Keynes. There have been occasional talks between Newey and Ferrari in the past. "He has spoken to [Luca di] Montezemolo and then also to Jean Todt. Apparently, he doesn't want to move: he likes to stay in England! And then, unquestionable skill aside, it's not just himself, he has excellent people around him."
Those talks went on for a very long time. In 1991, Montezemolo became president of Ferrari, then in the following years he recruited Jean Todt, Ross Brawn and Michael Schumacher and made the team successful again with multiple world titles. When exactly talks between the two parties took place is not entirely clear from Piero Ferrari's words.