Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur found himself at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix commenting in depth on the contact between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz and the unsatisfactory final result that Ferrari managed to bring home at the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
The fifth and sixth place finishes took a back seat. The focus was on what happened in the first stint between the two drivers: a contact in turn 1 described as “unnecessary” by Charles Leclerc, while Carlos Sainz responded that he saw nothing wrong in the incident.
The Ferrari team principal, instead, tried to calm the internal fire between the two drivers, with Charles Leclerc sticking faithfully to the pre-race briefing instructions—according to his statements—while Carlos Sainz, free from ties with Ferrari at the end of the season, had a different approach.
“It was a small contact, but we didn’t lose anything at that moment,” the French manager immediately clarified. “We were fifth and sixth at that time and I think at some point we were behind some cars and, despite being very close, we lost a few seconds. I think we were one lap short of catching Russell at the end of the race. We started fifth and sixth and finished in the same positions. For me, the conclusion is that we need to do a better job on Saturday.”
Charles Leclerc complained at the end of the race about having problems due to damage to the front wing endplate from the contact with Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari. Frederic Vasseur, however, firmly denied this possibility.
“From the data, we didn’t see anything regarding issues on Charles Leclerc’s car after the contact with Carlos Sainz. I think it was more a timing issue. I think Charles lost about half a second at that moment, but we can find ten other examples where we lost half a second during the race.”
With the internal fight between the two drivers tamed or subdued through the press, Frederic Vasseur focused on the gap Ferrari had from rivals throughout the Montmeló weekend. About two and a half tenths seen in both qualifying and the race, then explaining the different strategies adopted with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc during the race.
“Yesterday we had a gap from the leaders of 2 to 3 tenths. Today in the race the gap was practically the same. Considering 66 laps, we finished 20 seconds behind, which is 2.5 tenths per lap. We need to make a small step forward on Saturday, in qualifying, and we have to do it because when you start behind, you then have to overtake and take risks with strategies.”
“Sainz, like Russell, came in earlier because we had to cover George’s strategy, then fitting Carlos with Medium and Hard tires. With Leclerc, our plan was to extend the first stint and go a bit longer to have more opportunities to use the Soft, but we were one lap short.”
Barcelona is behind us, but Frederic Vasseur thinks things will be different at the Red Bull Ring, the next stop of the Formula 1 World Championship scheduled for next weekend.
“In Barcelona, the situation was this: we were behind Red Bull, Mercedes, and McLaren. But the situation was different in Monaco and will change every weekend. There are no longer 6 tenths of a gap between each car as in the past. Now we have 3 or 4 teams on the same level, within 2 tenths. This means that positions can change due to tire management, temperatures, setups, and many other reasons.” – the Frenchman added.
“A small step forward can ensure a big gain. This means that everything is still open. It will be in Austria because of the sprint format weekend, but also because of the characteristics of the track that will suit our car better.” – the Ferrari team principal concluded at the end of the Spanish Grand Prix.
Source: f1ingenerale
