Ferrari boss takes a subtle dig at Mohammed ben Sulayem - "It will be much smoother”

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur recently took a subtle dig at Mohammed Ben Sulayem and spoke about how all the controversial discussions around the sport will gradually die down once the new season begins and everyone returns to focusing on the job at hand. After several controversial comments and incidents, the FIA president will no longer be actively controlling the sport.

Speaking to Sky Sports, Frederic Vasseur explained how these kinds of controversies and discussions usually come up during the winter when not everyone's actively involved in F1. He believes that these topics will be put on the back burner once the cars are on track and the season commences:

“Well, I think that it’s always the case in the winter time that every single discussion is going up. Now we’ll be back on track, we’ll come back to the reality of the business and it will be much smoother."

Liberty Media and other teams weren't happy with Mohammed Ben Sulayem after he commented on F1's $20 billion bid from Saudi Arabia being 'inflated.' Moreover, several team principals didn't like the fact that he was supporting a new team like Andretti-Cadillac to join the sport as an 11th team. It was eventually decided that he wouldn't be controlling the sport on a day-to-day basis, but would remain at the helm of the FIA.

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Charles Leclerc praises Ferrari's new team principal for understanding the team

Charles Leclerc was impressed by Frederic Vasseur and how well he fit into the role of Ferrari's team principal. Of course, the scarlet team is one of the most successful and difficult teams to manage. However, Vasseur quickly made the team comfortable around him and set his goals for the team right from the get-go. Being one of the top teams, the new team principal wants nothing less than victories from the team.

Speaking about the new team boss, Charles Leclerc said:

"Ferrari is very different to whatever we are used to before. Ferrari is huge. And once he got here, he understood extremely well the way Ferrari works from the first few days. He's very clear in what he wants and he's extremely good at putting the people in the right mindset and in the right ambiance to give their best. And this is very important. So, that's what he brings to Ferrari and I'm sure it will be a good thing."

Just a few days after Vasseur began working with his new team, he made everyone comfortable to the point where they simply called him 'Fred' instead of formally addressing him as 'Mr. Vasseur.' This demonstrates how quickly the Frenchman has integrated into the Italian team, allowing them to hit the ground running in the 2023 F1 season.