Fred Vasseur wants you to think Ferrari’s flashiest gadgets this year, the Macarena wing that flips like a fidget spinner and the exhaust vane everyone is still trying to reverse-engineer, are proof of a cultural revolution in Maranello. Convenient timing, given Ferrari heads to Monza still searching for consistency rather than silverware.
The Macarena Wing and the Mentality Behind It
When Ferrari rolled out the SF-26 in Bahrain back in February, it wasn’t just quick, it was weird. First came a vane behind the exhaust, quietly named FTM inside the factory, then a rear wing that rotates 180 degrees between cornering and straight-line mode. The paddock nicknamed it the Macarena wing, and it did exactly what a nickname like that is supposed to do: it made people notice Ferrari again, and for the right reasons.
Both Red Bull and McLaren have since built their own versions of the rotating rear wing. Red Bull reportedly got there independently, while McLaren apparently spotted Ferrari’s solution and scrambled to catch up. The exhaust wing has proven harder to copy, mostly because Ferrari built the rear end of the car specifically around it, which makes it a nightmare to reverse-engineer without starting from scratch.
None of this happened by chance, according to Vasseur, who told Motorsport.com in a wide-ranging interview that the visible gadgets are a symptom of something bigger: a deliberate attempt to strip out Ferrari’s old blame culture and get the team comfortable making bolder calls.
Vasseur’s Case for Betting Big
Vasseur’s argument is straightforward enough. In a grid this tightly packed, the small margins teams leave on the table through timidity add up fast, and that’s the difference between the front row and starting sixth.
“It’s true that from day one I had the feeling that we have to take more risks. More risk on track, more risk on the innovation, on the development to take a different direction compared to the others, not to follow the others.” – Fred Vasseur
Fine words, and there is evidence to back them up. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have each won a grand prix this season in a car that is, by most measures, more competitive than Ferrari has fielded in years. But Vasseur is also selling a narrative that conveniently skips over the moments the gambles have blown up, and there have been a few of those too.
Genius in Barcelona, Something Else Elsewhere
Vasseur doesn’t pretend every bold call comes off. He’s happy to admit that an aggressive strategy call can look like genius one weekend and a mess the next, with the same people making the calls both times.
“Sometimes it’s paying off, sometimes it’s not. When you are a bit aggressive on strategy, sometimes you are a genius, like in Barcelona, and sometimes not, but we are the same guys on the pitwall.” – Fred Vasseur
That’s a tidy way of framing inconsistency as a feature rather than a bug. Ferrari sit third in the constructors’ standings on 338 points, comfortably behind Mercedes on 425 and Ferrari‘s own drivers have hardly been running away with the title race either. Hamilton and Leclerc sit third and fifth in the standings, 59 and 87 points respectively behind championship leader Kimi Antonelli, who won at the Dutch GP after the summer break. It has been quiet at the front for Ferrari since Silverstone, and no amount of Vasseur’s risk-management philosophy changes that.
The Cost Cap Makes Gambling Expensive
Here’s where Vasseur’s pitch gets more interesting, because innovating under a cost cap isn’t like innovating with an open chequebook. Ferrari can’t just fling ideas at the car and shrug off the ones that fail. Every wrong turn costs real budget that could have gone somewhere useful.
“I’m very pleased with what we did in terms of options of development, because with the cost cap, when you are taking this direction, if it’s not paying off, it’s negative. It’s not that if it’s not paying off, it’s just a shame. You are putting your money, you are betting on something.” – Fred Vasseur
That’s a fair point, and it’s also the bit of this interview that actually matters more than any wing that spins around. Under the current regulations, a failed bet isn’t a shrug and move on. It’s a hole in next month’s development budget. Vasseur is essentially arguing that Ferrari has got better at picking its battles, which would explain both the visible wins on strategy and the quieter losses that don’t make headlines.
Monza Brings the Next Test
Ferrari’s home race arrives this week, with Antonelli starting from the back despite leading the championship, and Monza is shaping up as more than a sentimental fixture for the Scuderia. The characteristics of the circuit, long straights, low drag, heavy demands on power unit efficiency, arguably favour Mercedes and Red Bull power more than Ferrari’s package. That makes getting the low-drag configuration right unusually important, and Ferrari’s approach isn’t as simple as bolting on a skinny rear wing and calling it a day.
The floor, revised at Zandvoort with a package worth an estimated 0.15 seconds a lap, is being adapted further for Monza’s specific demands, while the FTM exhaust winglet stays put after Ferrari considered ditching it altogether. There’s also a new engine specification waiting in the wings, developed under Ferrari’s second ADUO development opportunity, which could plausibly be introduced at Monza alongside a fresh internal combustion engine and turbocharger for both drivers.
Qualifying takes place on Saturday 5 September at 14:00 UTC, with the race on Sunday 6 September at 13:00 UTC, check the calendar for your local time. If Vasseur’s risk-taking gospel is more than a soundbite, Monza is exactly the kind of weekend where it should show up on the timing sheets rather than just in an interview transcript.
Talk Is Cheap, Points Are Not
Vasseur is right that Ferrari looks more inventive than it has in years, and the copycats at Red Bull and McLaren are the best evidence anyone needs that Maranello got something right. But being first to a clever idea and being first across the line are two very different achievements, and Ferrari’s title hopes this season rest heavily on the latter. Hamilton and Leclerc are running out of races to turn Vasseur’s philosophy into anything more than an interesting footnote in a season Antonelli and Mercedes are otherwise dominating.
