Ferrari boss feels ‘Austin will show our true position’ amid COTA track characteristics. Fred Vasseur: 'Austin will show our true position'.

The chaotic and tough Qatar Grand Prix was not exactly favorable to Ferrari. On Friday, neither of the two drivers managed to complete a clean lap, while during the races, they aimed to collect as many points as possible. Carlos Sainz‘s car issue didn’t help their quest to climb to second place in the Constructors’ Championship, but Lewis Hamilton’s retirement limited the damage.

Speaking with Sky Sport, Frederic Vasseur did not hide the complications experienced during these days, although he is content with what was achieved: “It was a very tough weekend, not only due to the tires and the curbs but also because of the wind, temperature, and sand on the track on Friday. We can’t complain on the pit wall because it was a performance at the physical limit for the drivers.” – the Ferrari biss pointed out.

Making the Grand Prix even more complicated were the numerous decisions and rules made by the FIA a few hours before the crucial sessions, which required a lot of extra effort. For this reason, the Frenchman was not exactly pleased: “I think the decision made during the weekend was good, as it was for safety, but it’s not the way to handle a weekend. Even with the track limits changes, I don’t know how many violations there were. I was watching the number of laps on one hand and infractions on the other, and these are things that shouldn’t be done.”

“Austin will be the test bench”

Furthermore, some questions from the Sky editorial team focused on the challenge with McLaren, which is becoming increasingly intense in these recent races and is especially intimidating for 2024. However, Fred Vasseur doesn’t seem too concerned, giving credit for their podiums to the track’s characteristics.

“If we look at the last two events, I believe McLaren is behind Red Bull, but Suzuka and Lusail have almost the same characteristics, with a series of fast corners. We were in a better state at Monza and Singapore, but we will see in the upcoming races: Austin is a bit of a mixture of everything and will show where we stand. Additionally, the conditions here were very extreme for the mechanics, the tires, and the drivers; some of them almost collapsed at the end. In the United States, we will return to normal,” said the Frenchman at the end of the Qatar Grand Prix last Sunday.