Frédéric Vasseur knows all about pressure.
In January, he was named general manager and team principal of Ferrari, one of the most high-pressure jobs in motorsport because of the popularity of the team. But in 1996 Vasseur had started his own team, and he said there were times he had trouble making ends meet.
“I probably had more pressure when I started ASM 30 years ago,” Vasseur said in an interview about the team. “Each Monday, I needed to get paid by the driver to avoid bankruptcy.” (At that level of racing, drivers pay the teams.)
When Vasseur, who was the chief executive of the Sauber Group and the team principal of Alfa Romeo last year, was approached by Ferrari to replace Mattia Binotto, who resigned at the end of the season, he had to consider the pressure he knew would be placed on his family.
“I knew I wouldn’t be affected or scared by it,” he said. “It’s just that it’s more demanding, and I didn’t want to expose them to it. For me it’s one thing, but for my family it’s another. I had to decide.”
Vasseur said it took him one day to do so because of his wife, Marie Laure. “I have four children, my youngest recently turned 15, he has school, and I knew it would be a big change for him,” he said.
“But my wife was more convinced than me….
