Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur confirms excellent relationship with Charles Leclerc

In yesterday’s post-qualifying interview during the Sky Sport F1 segment, Paddock Live, F1 journalist Federica Masolin and Carlo Vanzini interviewed the team principal of Scuderia Ferrari, Fred Vasseur, who talked about the issues they faced in Q2 with Charles Leclerc, the current situation with the Monegasque driver, and the SF-23 car’s performance.

Fred Vasseur’s words

Frederic Vasseur began by saying: “If we look at yesterday’s practice or even this afternoon’s third practice session, the pace was much better, but I don’t think today was a matter of race pace. The session was more than chaotic, the tire choice was unclear, and we only had one lap to set a time in Q2. It didn’t go the right way for us, but we need to be strong tomorrow.”

Speaking about what happened with Charles Leclerc in the qualifying session for the Canadian Grand Prix, the Frenchman stated: “We have already discussed it with Charles, and the situation is that at that moment, we needed him to do a lap and set a time to protect ourselves from the red flag. Even though the track was faster with the red tires at that stage, the important thing was to secure a lap, and I believe most of the drivers did the same. I don’t want to blame Charles, but that’s the situation, and it’s not easy.” – the French manager explained, as he then added: “We had the feeling that the car was faster on the soft tires, but I repeat, the important thing at that moment was to set a time.”

The Ferrari team principal also spoke about the challenging conditions faced during the session. He said, “I think the session was difficult for all the drivers because it was really on the edge between the soft and medium tires. Sometimes it’s a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We need to prepare for tomorrow; we are in Canada, we did a good job yesterday, and we can certainly repeat it in the race tomorrow.”

Shifting the topic to Carlos Sainz’s three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race in Montreal, Frederic Vasseur said, “I think he was also surprised by Tsunoda, who was behind him and then had to overtake him at the apex, so he had to slow down while Pierre was coming. It’s true that in these conditions, it’s difficult, but Yuki’s overtaking move was a bit risky.”

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Frederic Vasseur, prompted by further questions from reporters, concluded by talking about his relationship with the Monegasque driver, saying, “You know that we have a good relationship between us, and I perfectly understand his frustration. Yesterday, he did a good job, probably his best since the beginning of the season in terms of a single lap and race simulation, and he expected a lot from today. Unfortunately, for various reasons, it didn’t go as we wanted, but we talked about it. We had a good face-to-face discussion, but for me, it’s more than normal to understand that when drivers get out of the car and haven’t done a good job, they’re angry.” – Frederic Vasseur concluded.