The Italian outfit has endured a challenging season so far, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz battling inconsistency with the SF-23, which has made it an especially difficult car to drive in races.
Its situation has also not been helped by the departure of some key personnel, including head of vehicle concept David Sanchez who is joining McLaren. Furthermore, sporting director Laurent Mekies will step down later this year ahead of his switch to AlphaTauri.
New team boss Fred Vasseur is pushing hard to turn Ferrari’s situation around, and a recent major update introduced at the Spanish Grand Prix appears to have helped deliver a more consistent car that can fight further up the order.
But, with him well aware that bigger steps are needed if the team is to regularly challenge Red Bull, Vasseur has been open that the team needs to recruit from elsewhere to try to fast track its fightback.
Speaking to selected media including Autosport at the Canadian Grand Prix, Vasseur admitted that things were not helped by the fact that current gardening leave clauses in F1 contracts mean it can take years before a team like Ferrari can expect new signings to join up.
“The issue in F1 is inertia,” he explained. “On one hand we look very agile. We change things, and overnight sometimes you have an issue, and you can fix it from one race to another one.
“But the reality of our business is that when you want to steer the boat a little bit, then we are not agile anymore. We know that if we want to recruit, we are speaking not in days, we are speaking in years.
“I signed a top guy a couple of weeks ago to join in 2025. He will only work on the car in 2025 and 2026.
“It seems a long wait. But, on the other hand, if you don't do it, it will be even worse in six months. You have to accept it as a basic of F1. If you stop at one stage, it means you will postpone again even more the impact.”
Source: Autosport