FIA president welcomes arrival of new Ferrari team boss

Mohammed Ben Sulayem welcomes the arrival of Frederic Vasseur as team boss at Ferrrai. The FIA president thinks the Italian racing stable made a good choice by hijacking Vasseur away from Alfa Romeo Racing. Ben Sulayem thinks the gap with Red Bull Racing last year was a lot smaller than the results in both world championships would suggest.

"It was a performance-based choice, I think. I think they did the right thing," let the 61-year-old top man know in front of the likes of Motorsport-Total.com. Vasseur's arrival should ultimately lead to Ferrari finally becoming Formula 1 world champion again. "Winning and winning a world championship is also nothing new for Ferrari. It's only a matter of time before they win again."

Whether that can happen as early as 2023 with Vasseur on board, Ben Sulayem dares not say. He does want to say that based on how competitive the car was in 2022, Ferrari deserved much better results. For example, after Charles Leclerc' s victory in the Austrian Grand Prix, it failed to win, even though the opportunities were there.

Todt was very successful as a Frenchman at Ferrari

Vasseur becomes the second ever French team boss within the Maranello-based team. With this, he hopes to follow in the footsteps of the highly successful Jean Todt. Between 1993 and 2009, Todt was good for no fewer than 14 world titles. He then left for the FIA to serve as president for many years. At the end of the much-discussed 2021 season, Todt made way for Ben Sulayem.