Frédéric Jean Henri Vasseur (born 28 May 1968) is a French

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

executive, businessman and engineer. Since 2023, Vasseur has served as team principal of

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello. Founded in 1939 by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988), the company built Auto Avio Costruzioni 815, its first car in 1940, adopted its current name in 1945, and be ...

Formula One Formula One (F1) is the highest class of worldwide racing for open-wheel single-seater formula Auto racing, racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The FIA Formula One World Championship has been one ...

; he previously served as team principal of

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

Sauber Sauber Motorsport AG, currently competing in Formula One as Stake F1 Team Kick Sauber, and also known simply as Kick Sauber or Sauber, is a Swiss motorsport engineering company. It was founded in 1970 (as PP Sauber AG) by Peter Sauber, who pro ...

and

Alfa Romeo Alfa Romeo Automobiles S.p.A. () is an Italian carmaker known for its sports-oriented vehicles, strong auto racing heritage, and iconic design. Headquartered in Turin, Italy, it is a subsidiary of Stellantis Europe and one of 14 brands of mu ...

. Born and raised in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Vasseur studied aeronautical engineering at (ESTACA). He founded ASM in 1996, winning several national and continental

Formula Three Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

championships. In 2004, Vasseur partnered with Nicolas Todt to co-found ART Grand Prix, winning the

GP2 Series The GP2 Series was a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2005 following the discontinuation of the long-term Formula One feeder series, Formula 3000. The GP2 format was conceived by Bernie Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, while Ecc ...

back-to-back with Nico Rosberg and

Lewis Hamilton Sir Lewis Carl Davidson Hamilton (born 7 January 1985) is a British racing driver who competes in Formula One for Scuderia Ferrari, Ferrari. Hamilton has won a joint-record seven Formula One World Drivers' Championship titles—tied with M ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

and

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

, respectively. Until 2017—under the leadership of Vasseur—ART won four GP2 teams' championships, amongst five consecutive titles in the Formula 3 Euro Series from

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

. Vasseur joined

in as their first team principal upon their return to Formula One, resigning at the end of the season and joining

for . After six seasons at Sauber—later known as

—Vasseur moved to

in , leading the team to victory at Grands Prix, as of the . Outside of team management, Vasseur founded Spark Racing Technology in 2013, becoming the official chassis constructor for

Formula E Formula E, officially the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, is an open-wheel single-seater motorsport championship for electric cars. The racing series is the highest class of competition for electrically powered single-seater racing cars ...

in its inaugural season, and since producing the SRT_01E (

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

), SRT05e (

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

), Gen3 (

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

) and Gen3 Evo (

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

). Spark also hold the license for Extreme E, producing the Odyssey 21, which has been in use since

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

Early and personal life

Frédéric Jean Henri Vasseur was born on 28 May 1968 in Draveil,

Île-de-France The Île-de-France (; ; ) is the most populous of the eighteen regions of France, with an official estimated population of 12,271,794 residents on 1 January 2023. Centered on the capital Paris, it is located in the north-central part of the cou ...

, France. He married his wife Marie Laure on 31 July 1999 and together they have 4 sons.

Career

Education and junior formulae (1996–2015)

Vasseur studied aeronautics and engineering at Higher School of Aeronautical Techniques and Automotive Construction (ESTACA), graduating in 1995. In 2004, he jointly formed with Nicolas Todt, the ART Grand Prix team that won the

championship with Nico Rosberg in 2005 and

in 2006. As the boss of the ASM team in 1998, which, in partnership with Renault, won the French

Formula 3 Formula Three (F3) is a third-tier class of open-wheel formula racing. The various championships held in Europe, Australia, South America and Asia form an important step for many prospective Formula One drivers. History Formula Three (adop ...

championship with David Saelens in 1998, and the Formula 3 Euroseries championships in partnership with Mercedes-Benz with Jamie Green,

, Paul di Resta and Romain Grosjean, from 2004 to 2007. Todt Nicolas and Vasseur Frederic

At the end of 2013, he obtained the contract from the FIA to construct the 40 chassis for the inaugural

series for his newly formed venture Spark Racing Technology; the company has continued to keep this contract.

Formula One (2016–present)

Renault (2016)

Vasseur joined Renault Sport as team principal of the newly formed Renault Sport Formula One Team during the 2016 Formula One season. He resigned at the end of the 2016 season after disagreements with the managing director, Cyril Abiteboul, on how the team should be run. Subsequently, he was hired by Sauber in July 2017.

Sauber / Alfa Romeo (2017–2022)

On 12 July 2017, Sauber announced that they had signed up Vasseur as managing director and CEO of Sauber Motorsport as well as team principal of the Sauber F1 Team.

Ferrari (2023–present)

In December 2022, Vasseur replaced Mattia Binotto as team principal of

for the season; he became the fourth non-Italian and the second French person to lead the team. Vasseur achieved his first victory as team principal when Carlos Sainz Jr. won the , the only non-

Red Bull Red Bull is a brand of energy drinks created and owned by the Austrian company Red Bull GmbH. With a market share of 43%, it is the most popular energy drink brand as of 2020, and the third most valuable soft drink brand, behind Coca-Cola and ...

win of the season. He achieved his first 1–2 finish at the 2024 Australian Grand Prix. Throughout , Vasseur and Ferrari achieved several further wins—in

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

—with the team finishing runner-up to

McLaren McLaren Racing Limited ( ) is a British auto racing, motor racing team based at the McLaren Technology Centre in Woking, Surrey, England. The team is a subsidiary of the McLaren Group, which owns a majority of the team. McLaren is best known a ...

in the World Constructors' Championship.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasseur, Frédéric 1968 births Living people Alfa Romeo people Alfa Romeo in Formula One Ferrari people Formula One team principals French automotive engineers French motorsport people Motorsport team owners People from Draveil Renault people Sauber Motorsport Sportspeople from Essonne