Vasseur has been drafted into Maranello for 2023 after his predecessor Mattia Binotto resigned final yr amid a perception he didn’t have the arrogance of Ferrari’s senior highway automotive administration.
And whereas Vasseur is assured that Ferrari has the whole lot in its arms to have the ability to struggle for the F1 championship this yr, Montoya believes there are nonetheless parts that the Frenchman will battle with.
Particularly, he thinks the inner political scenario at Ferrari is all the time a troublesome one to take care of, because of the squad having fairly a excessive turnover of senior personnel when issues don’t go proper.
Chatting with Motorsport.com, Montoya stated: “One of many arduous issues with Ferrari is that I do not assume anyone appears like they’ve job safety.
“Everyone is ready so that you can put your foot within the incorrect place, to allow them to fireplace you. That is what I see from the surface.
“You have a look at Toto [Wolff] and you realize Toto shouldn’t be going wherever. You have a look at Christian [Horner] otherwise you have a look at Helmut [Marko], they don’t seem to be going wherever. However you all the time have a look at the pinnacle of Ferrari and you’re questioning: ‘Okay, how lengthy is that this one going to final?’ As a result of there’s all the time anyone after him.”
Montoya anticipated Ferrari to have seemed to its former boss Jean Todt as Binotto’s alternative, and thinks he would have risen above any issues about shedding his job.
“I believed they had been going to place Jean Todt in that place,” he stated. “To be sincere, that will have been my choose.
Juan Pablo Montoya
Picture by: Erik Junius
“I do not know if he needed the job, however he is the man that did the job earlier than. And I feel all people respects him sufficient that no person goes to fuck with him.
“He’s a man that does not want the job, so when you do not want the job and you do not care [about losing it], I feel you will have extra balls to make the correct choices.
“However I hope they do an excellent job. It was sort of shocking, it was such a robust automotive they’d to start with of final yr, however they did not use it properly.
“And, for the shock of all people, you heard them say ‘oh, we are able to nonetheless win the following ten races.’ And so they did not win a single race.”
Whereas Ferrari was Pink Bull’s closest challenger in 2022, Montoya thinks the scenario could possibly be totally different within the forthcoming marketing campaign.
He reckons that Mercedes, which ended the yr strongly having acquired on prime of the problems with its W13, will carry its momentum into the brand new season.
“If I used to be Pink Bull, I’d be trying extra to what Mercedes can convey than what Ferrari can convey,” added Montoya.
“Should you have a look at the Ferrari pitstops, the methods, you go like ‘who the hell is making these calls?’ It is arduous to say, as a result of I do know below stress it is robust to make choices, however for those who’re not the individual making the correct choices, you have to get anyone else, I feel. No?
“Or perhaps if he’s the correct individual, he must have higher help round him to have the ability to do what he does. However one thing’s lacking as a result of the errors are too usually with the methods they make.”
In the end, Montoya believes that errors like Ferrari make are triggered by Pink Bull being so robust in the best way the crew operates.
“Pink Bull does such an excellent job with methods, they make all people else look silly,” he stated. “It isn’t like anyone else would not know what they’re doing, however Pink Bull has such a greater understanding of the methods and what you want and tips on how to do it.
“Even when they do not make the correct name, if Pink Bull makes a incorrect name, they make it look proper. And when anyone else makes the correct name, Pink Bull makes a greater one. So it is like: how do you beat this?”