Fred Vasseur explains why people don't want to work in Maranello but "25 engineers on their way"

In recent months, there has been much talk about the movement of a senior engineer from Red Bull to Ferrari. The team didn’t make any official statements for months, and the initial rumors pointed to Pierre Wachè, the technical director of the Milton Keynes team, as the person heading to Maranello. This hypothesis was also supported by the fact that Laurent Mekies remained at the Scuderia’s pit wall for many months after the announcement, as if he were a bargaining chip. However, recent reports have stated that the person in question is Loic Serra, the performance director of Mercedes. Due to the gardening leave period, though, his contribution will only be seen on the 2026 car.

In a recent interview with Gazzetta dello Sport, Frederic Vasseur admitted that the personnel hired at Ferrari aren’t limited to the Frenchman: “We’ve brought in about 25 people, but we’re looking for more. None of them are already working in the Scuderia. We’ve signed with a prominent name, who should start on January 1, 2025, but we’re trying to expedite the process. How can I convince Toto Wolff to release him sooner? I’ll try when we’re on a boat together…”

Furthermore, the team principal emphasized that negotiations are a crucial part of his work, and in the future, he will strive to reduce gardening leave times. “However, as it happened with Laurent Mekies, sometimes you have people leaving Ferrari, situations overlap, and you can negotiate on dates. Let’s say that this quickly became the main part of my job at Ferrari. You have to build good relationships and convince people to move. The first ones you get are the most difficult; then the others follow suit,” the Frenchman admitted.

Why is it difficult to bring people to Maranello?

And why don’t the big names in Formula 1 want to come to Ferrari? It’s not a salary issue, given that the Scuderia has no economic problems, but perhaps it’s a problem related to the current state of the team, which seems to struggle to rise, isn’t competitive, and is rarely seen fighting for a victory. It takes courage to leave a successful team to build one from scratch. However, Fred Vasseur highlighted another aspect: geographic distance. While most constructors are based in the UK, asking someone to move to Maranello would mean changing country, culture, and language for the family of the engineer involved, as also happened to the team principal himself.

“When I went to Sauber, my wife didn’t want to come; she didn’t move from France to Zurich. She does it now, but I understand how it’s not easy: she has to leave her activities, she likes what she does, and she has to let it go. After the summer, we will settle in Bologna, with us is the youngest of my four children, who is starting high school, and we’ve found a house near the school. Bologna is a beautiful city, and I’m closer to the airport. I’ll commute to and from Maranello, but it’s not a problem: I wake up early, and the time I spend in the car is used for work calls,” said the Frenchman.