Jean Alesi feels poaching Adrian Newey would not solve Ferrari’s performance problems

Even signing well-known aerodynamicist and designer Adrian Newey from rivals Red Bull would not fix the current performance issues of Scuderia Ferrari, according to former Formula 1 and Maranello driver Jean Alesi, who responded to former Ferrari tester Daniil Kvyat’s view that the Italian side needs “a technical revolution” in order to get back to the top of the sport following a poor start to the 2023 Formula One campaign.

“The team has a new boss,” explained the Russian professional racing driver set to race for Prema Racing in the 2023 FIA World Endurance Championship – “but perhaps they should have hired engineers from other teams. They should have done exactly what Red Bull did with Mercedes or Aston Martin did with Red Bull.” – Daniil Kvyat added.

And it seems that Ferrari president John Elkann also shares the same view, as he recently informed the Exor shareholders that “profound changes are taking place within the walls of Maranello, especially in strengthening the sporting activity at the circuit”.

Yet Jean Alesi believes new Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur just needs to be given more time to deliver: “It will take time,” he said in an interview for the French Eurosport program Les Fous du Volant, “but Fred Vasseur is the right choice.”

The former Ferrari driver looked back at the moment when fellow Frenchman Jean Todt joined the Italian side three decades ago and focused on a major recruitment drive which included key figures such as Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Michael Schumacher: “That is no longer possible in Formula 1,” 58-year-old Jean Alesi pointed out – “Today, if Adrian Newey decided to go to Ferrari, we wouldn’t see his car until 2025 because of the clauses in all the contracts. So it will take time. But I repeat that Fred Vasseur is the right person for this job.” – he continued.

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Jean Alesi believes that the new Ferrari boss just needs to stay calm and focus on “reliability, performance, stability. He has to put these three things in the order he wants, but that’s what has to be done,” – the ex-Formula 1 driver added.

At the same time, Jean Alesi is confident that the sole “number 1” at the top of the Ferrari Racing Division is indeed Fred Vasseur: “That’s not the problem,” he replied when asked whether it would be a good idea for the French manager to make Charles Leclerc the main driver over his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz – “If at the next grand prix they said ‘Charles, you are the first driver and Carlos is the second’, it would not help in the process to develop the car, especially the lack of performance and reliability. That’s not the problem, frankly,” – Jean Alesi believes.