“You can’t refuse an offer from Ferrari” – Vasseur Reveals Insistence from Audi after Talks

Frédéric Vasseur has revealed that those within Audi Sport were insistent that he should not turn down the opportunity to join Scuderia Ferrari as Team Principal ahead of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season.

Vasseur left his role as Team Principal of the Alfa Romeo F1 Team ORLEN outfit after Ferrari put in a request for him to replace Mattia Binotto in charge of their Formula 1 team, and he moved there with the blessings of Audi, who will join the team in 2026.

He had been a part in the negotiations between the Sauber Group and Audi about the latter investing in their Formula 1 team, but they were not going to let Vasseur miss out on an opportunity to join Ferrari.

“Sauber is a team that is staying close to my thoughts and I had a very good relationship with everyone in the team, so I wish them all the best for the future and Andreas also,” Vasseur is quoted as saying by Racer.com. “It’s a challenge — but it is always a challenge and I don’t imagine you can have an easy life in F1.

“When I had a call with Ferrari I didn’t share the call with everybody in the world! It was my own reflection and discussion with (Ferrari chairman) John Elkann, and I didn’t share it at all with Audi before the announcement.

“I had a chat with someone from Audi and they told me that you can’t refuse an offer from Ferrari.”

Vasseur believes Ferrari has everything in place to win in Formula 1, providing they are able to put everything together at the same time.

Predecessor Binotto lost his job after a number of high-profile mistakes during the 2022 season, and his replacement knows they will need to do a better job if they are to take that next step and fight harder for the championships this year.

“I’m really convinced that Ferrari today — and for sure my experience is limited to the last two weeks — is that we have everything to win,” Vasseur added.  “We have to put everything together to do a good job, but we have everything to win.

“Then I think you can have a look at the reasons of the last decades — the wheel is always rolling and it’s just a matter of continuous improvement. For me, if we are doing a better job than the others in a couple of months or years then we will be able to win.

“It’s not that anything is set in stone and if you look have a look at some teams they were in a very dominant situation a couple of years ago and they are nowhere today. You don’t have to take these directions that, ‘OK, it was like this the last decade or last 20 years and it will stay like this in the future.’

“F1 is a changing world and we just have to be focused on the job, on the performance and everything is possible.”