Fred Vasseur: The Man Who Built Hamilton, Leclerc and Russell

Fred Vasseur trained as an aerospace engineer before he founded his own racing team, ASM, in 1996. He later co-founded ART Grand Prix with Nicolas Todt, and that team became the greatest champion factory in junior racing.

The numbers explain why. ART collected 23 international drivers’ titles and more than 200 wins under Vasseur. Nico Rosberg and Lewis Hamilton won GP2 titles in his cars in back to back years, and Valtteri Bottas, Esteban Ocon, Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Nyck de Vries all won championships with the team.

In Formula 1, Vasseur rebuilt Sauber and handed a young Charles Leclerc his Formula 1 debut in 2018. It was the same eye for talent that had defined his junior teams, now working at the top level of the sport.

Ferrari called in January 2023. In 2024 his team won five races and missed the constructors’ title by just 14 points. Then he signed Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes. Ferrari had eight wins under Vasseur as of the 2026 Singapore Grand Prix, and the biggest prize is still to come.