Newey declined move to Ferrari: "He doesn't want to relocate!"

In an interview with Autosprint, Ferrari talks about the first months of the eponymous Formula 1 team, which have been far from smooth sailing. When asked if he expected this, he replies, "Of course not, but I was afraid it would be difficult. We have to work with the materials we have." He concludes that there's little else to do but extract maximum performance from the current resources.

He acknowledges that development is not easy. "Closing the gap in Formula 1 these days is complicated. There are budget cap restrictions, so you can do certain things, but not everything you would like. The problem is that with the current budget limits, you have to decide how much to invest in improving the current situation, without jeopardizing the work for the 2024 car. Patience is required," the son of the founder states.

Ferrari supports restructuring

Patience, however, has often been an issue at Ferrari, as high-ranking personnel have been replaced before, including Mattia Binotto. His successor, Vasseur, is also not off to a flying start. "We need to give him time to get the problems under control. He knows racing well, he has been in this environment for years, so he deserves our trust," the Vice Chairman of Ferrari says, urging people to stay calm with respect to the Frenchman.

The team principal, who joined from Alfa Romeo, will have the opportunity to shape the team according to his preferences. "We need people with different experiences. When we look at our history, whenever we made real changes in the organization and recruited personnel from other teams, the results were evident. We excel in certain areas, but for other aspects, we need to bring in outside specialists," explains Ferrari, highlighting that restructuring is not necessarily wrong and has proven successful in the past.

Newey declined Ferrari

Piero observes that Red Bull, their competitor, is thriving, and designer Newey has once again managed to create a top car. "They are very good at building cars that perform well on all circuits," he points to the Austrian team. "Do you think it's not often? It's not just now. Red Bull has won with hybrid engines, and before that, they won with naturally aspirated engines. Vettel won four championships with them, and that was certainly not a coincidence."

Therefore, it's no surprise that Ferrari attempted to lure Newey to Italy. However, the British engineer declined the offer. "He said no to Montezemolo, and then he also said no to Jean Todt. Apparently, he doesn't want to relocate. He prefers to stay in England! And besides, despite his undisputed skills, he doesn't do it alone - he has very talented people surrounding him," Ferrari emphasizes, highlighting that Newey is not solely responsible for the team's success.