'Red Bull without Newey is like the orchestra without the conductor'

Alesi sees Ferrari's progress in 2024, and believes Frederic Vasseur is one of the main reason for that happening. "It seems to me that he [Vasseur] is repeating the extraordinary work that Jean Todt had done when he arrived at Maranello, building a team that then gave birth to the Schumacher era," the Frenchman told Motorsport.com Italy.

Vasseur himself is constantly praised by his drivers and pundit alike. The Frenchman is the 'calm power' within the team, who tries to stay out of the drama and is focused on his team's development. "It's self-confidence for the drivers, for the team. And for sure as soon as you are in a position to win, you pay more attention to details, and you have a kind of snowball effect. And this is, I think, part of the improvement of the last six or seven months. And we have to continue like this," Vasseur shared about their process to GPblog among others.

In 2024, Ferrari have won two Grands Prix, and been on the podium everytime except for the Chinese Grand Prix. However, until recently, Max Verstappen and Red Bull seemed to be quite a step ahead of Ferrari, as in Miami and Imola, Lando Norris and McLaren were the main challengers. In the meantime, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz brought their cars home to collect points, but the Monaco Grand Prix proved to be different with Leclerc setting the pace.

The one-time Grand Prix winner Alesi also believes Ferrari fans might not need to wait until 2026 to challenge for titles. "The team are already competitive now. There are still 16 Grands Prix on the calendar and Ferrari seem to be making a great comeback," Alesi explained. If McLaren continue to remain at the front, and with Sergio Perez's fluctuation in performance, the Italians could continue to gain on their rivals.

After 8 Grands Prix, Ferrari are 24 points behind their rivals in P2, while Charles Leclerc is also in second place in the standings, 31 points behind the defending champion Max Verstappen.

Alesi thinks Red Bull will miss Newey

Since Adrian Newey has announced that he will leave Red Bull Racing, there has been a lot of debate about whether the Austrian team will still be able to produce cars with the same level of competitiveness.

Without pointing to Ferrari as Newey's next destination, Alesi believes Red Bull will suffer without the master designer. "My feeling is that without Adrian Newey, Red Bull are like the La Scala [famous opera house in Milan] orchestra without the conductor. There is no need to say anything else."