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Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has made a key change to his strategy team just over a week ahead of the start of the new F1 season.
Head of race strategy Iñaki Rueda has switched to a factory role at Maranello to support the trackside team that will now be led by Ravin Jain.
Vasseur hinted soon after his appointment in January after taking over from Mattia Binotto that he was “in the process of reviewing everything” with regard to his strategy team.
That followed a catalogue of errors last season that cost drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz race wins and podiums.
It proved to be a major contributor to the Scuderia and Leclerc finishing a distant second to Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the constructors’ and drivers’ championships last season.
Jain takes swift rise to the strategy top with Ferrari
As the lead figure, Rueda was viewed as the key individual in the firing line, although Vasseur warned he would be taking a cautious approach before making changes.
“When you are speaking about strategy and strategists, you only see the visible part of the iceberg,” said Vasseur.
“Strategy is not just a matter of the guy who is at the top of the iceberg. Very often, it is a matter of organisation, communication, and the flow of communication on the pit wall.”
Rueda has seemingly now paid a price to a certain extent, although he will still be involved in strategic calls, albeit now working under Jain who has been a race strategy engineer at Ferrari for just over six years.
It marks a swift rise for Jain whose entire F1 career has been with Ferrari since graduating from Oxford University with a first-class degree in physics. He also obtained a master’s degree distinction in mathematical and theoretical physics.
Jain, of Indian origin, gained experience in F1 with internships at Caterham and Williams whilst studying for his master’s.
