It was a weekend to forget for Ferrari, which finished the Australian GP in eighth (Charles Leclerc) and tenth (Lewis Hamilton) place. However, in the first part of the race, the Maranello team seemed to have a decent pace, running in fifth and eighth place. Later, everything turned upside down when rain arrived with 10 laps to go. The Ferrari drivers pitted later than their rivals, dropping to ninth and tenth. In the final laps, Leclerc managed to recover one position. At the end of the race, Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur commented on the strategy used in the Australian GP, also discussing the team’s race pace and overall weekend performance.
Disastrous start for the Maranello team
“When you start seventh and eighth, you obviously hope for a chaotic race, and with the rain, that could have been the case.” Frederic Vasseur had said that a crazy race might work in Ferrari’s favor in Australia, during a weekend that started well but then went completely downhill. The race at Albert Park was reminiscent of past eras, with retirements, mistakes, two Safety Cars, and intermittent rain shaking things up so much that McLaren—clearly the dominant force in terms of performance—ended up paying dearly for a big mistake by Oscar Piastri, who dropped to the back of the field after getting stuck on the wet grass for a long time.
The Australian driver recovered to finish ninth, splitting the two Ferraris, which ended up losing positions compared to their starting grid spots. Charles Leclerc finished eighth, the British driver tenth. Ferrari lacked pace, and when switching to dry tires, the team opted for the hard compound, while the medium proved to be more effective, as shown by Yuki Tsunoda, who overtook Charles Leclerc on track before the Monegasque spun. The chaotic weather had given Ferrari a chance to at least fight for a podium, but every decision from the pit wall turned out to be wrong, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc dropping to the back of the pack after pitting under the Safety Car.
Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur commented on the disappointing Sunday to Sky Sport: “We should have stopped a lap earlier, like Max Verstappen did, but it’s easy to say that in hindsight. The race strategy wasn’t the right one, but now we need to focus on the next race—the season is long. I don’t know if we got everything wrong today, but we’ll build on the race pace we showed in Friday’s long-run simulations. McLaren is a step ahead, but behind them, we’re all close, and we had the same pace as Mercedes.” – the French manager concluded.
