Frederic Vasseur: The new man in charge at Renault

2016 F1 season

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Renault has entrusted responsibility to for the running of its third works F1 team to a man with no prior experience at the sport’s top flight.

But Frederic Vasseur has an enviable record across several of the leading ‘feeder series’ for Formula One.

“It’s correct that this is my first role in Formula One,” said Vasseur after being confirmed as the racing director of the Renault Sport Formula One Team. “But I have worked a long apprenticeship in the junior categories and I’m eager to translate everything I’ve learnt over many years of competing elsewhere into the challenge of Formula 1.”

“This is a new experience for me, but racing is racing and the target is always the same. The approach you need to win is the same no matter what the category.”

Vasseur’s credentials as a successful team manager and his close ties to Renault over the past two decades made him the obvious choice for the job. He formed the ASM Formula Three team in 1996, his cars powered by Renault engines.

The partnership came good within three years when his driver David Saelens reeled off a stunning 12 consecutive victories in the French series to take the title from Franck Montagny by just three points. Having taken Tiago Monteiro to the runner-up spot in 2001, Vasseur’s ASM triumphed again in the final year of the French championship with Tristan Gommendy in 2002.

For 2003 the French championship merged with its counterpart in Germany to form the F3 Euro Series. Vasseur’s team, now powered by Mercedes, soon became a dominant force. Jamie Green was the first of their drivers to win the title in 2004, and he was followed by a succession of future F1 talents who did the same.

Hamilton won F3 and GP2 titles with Vasseur
Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil made it a one-two for ASM in the 2005 championship, a feat repeated by Paul di Resta and Sebastian Vettel the following year. Romain Grosjean kept the run of ASM champions going in 2007 while his rookie team mate Nico Hulkenberg placed third. Hulkenberg returned with them the following season to take the crown and 12 months later it was Jules Bianchi’s turn.

By then ASM had merged with Nicolas Todt’s ART outfit and taken on its name. With Vassuer at the helm the team joined the new GP2 championship in 2005 and immediately established its authority, taken Nico Rosberg to the title. Hamilton repeated the feat the following year and Hulkenberg became the third rookie to win the GP2 crown with ART in 2009.

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Underlining its mastery of single-seater championships, ART drivers Esteban Gutierrez and Valtteri Bottas also won the first two GP3 titles in 2010 and 2011. The most recent season produced another haul of silverware in GP2, courtesy of Stoffel Vandoorne, and GP3, where Esteban Ocon took the honours.

Vasseur’s success in the junior categories meant ART was repeatedly linked with a graduation to F1. This briefly seemed a possibility in 2010 in the wake of three new teams being admitted entry. This ultimately came to naught and, in light of the growing difficulties the 2010 entrants have faced since then, it was surely a wise move. Instead ART branched out into GT racing, running a pair of McLaren MP4-12Cs in the 2014 European Le Mans Series.

Renault 2016 F1 team launch

    Meanwhile Vasseur strengthened his ties with Renault through their involvement in the new Formula E championship launched the same year. In 2012 he set up Spark Racing Technology which the FIA appointed as the championship’s chassis builder the following year. Spark created a clean-sheet design for the car which began service in mid-2014.

    In his new Renault role, Vasseur will be responsible for the team’s sporting and technical competitiveness. Top of the to-do list is reshaping the ex-Lotus team into an outfit which can harness the substantial resources available to Renault across its bases for chassis (Enstone) and power unit (Viry-Chatillon).

    “We know the road map and we have to deliver in the next three or so seasons,” said Vasseur. “The first is to build up the team as one organisation and be sure that everyone works together well.”

    “Our first priority is to ensure everything goes smoothly. I don’t want to focus only on the process, I know we have to build to success too and we’ll have to deliver quickly. There’s plenty to do.”

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    Keith Collantine
    Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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    8 comments on “Frederic Vasseur: The new man in charge at Renault”

    1. I have high expectations for the new Renault’s works outfit. There seems to be a lot of clever thinking going on.

      What about the two drivers? Are they experienced enough to help take things forward quickly?

    2. I don’t think the drivers are really experienced but for sure have enough experience to perform well. Magnussen did well in 2014 and i believe is a suited replacement for Grosjean.
      Palmer is a rookie but has a lot of racing experience and tested last year so is a good bet for a young number 2 driver.
      I think that the drivers will not be the weakest link in this chain, even though they will not do wonders, IMO.

    3. I counted 29 titles for ASM/ART (8 in GP2, 8 in GP3, 2 in GP2 Asia, 11 in F3) between 2003 and today, which is a truly remarkable record. He’s also led some of the most extraordinary campaigns in single seaters in recent years – Hamilton’s, Hulkenberg’s and Vandoorne’s GP2 title successes being the obvious ones to note. Judging from how this project seems to be going, this is all a pretty long-term thing too so it sounds as if they will give him the time as well as the resources to put things into place.

      However as is the case in terms of drivers in junior categories, a team principal doing well there does not automatically imply that they will deliver at a world-championship level.

    4. “Lewis Hamilton and Adrian Sutil made it a one-two for ASM in the 2005 championship, a feat repeated by Paul di Resta and Sebastian Vettel the following year. Romain Grosjean kept the run of ASM champions going in 2007 while his rookie team mate Nico Hulkenberg placed third. Hulkenberg returned with them the following season to take the crown and 12 months later it was Jules Bianchi’s turn.” – Wow, ART always seem to have the best drivers.

      1. @jmc200 The best drivers tend to end up in the best cars

        1. Yeah, ART are just a team of quality.

    5. He’s the right man for Renault, the right man for F1 too. He usually loves the drivers and engineers he’s working with, protecting them, but above all he’s a tough man, tough with collaborators, tough in negociations.

      I’m sure he’ll get the resources he wants by Renault, and I’m sure that if he hasn’t got them he quit.

      To resume him with an international epression: he’s got balls. All what Renault needed.

    6. guy looks like ron dennis , lol

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