Ferrari’s team boss, Frederic Vasseur, stated that Charles Leclerc “blew up everything” in his failed attempt to overtake George Russell for the lead during the Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc had a strong start to the race, moving from his fourth-place grid position to second after the opening corners, immediately setting his sights on George Russell, who started from pole.
However, as the race progressed, Charles Leclerc’s efforts to challenge Russell proved futile. Despite his best attempts to attack the Mercedes driver, George Russell remained resolute, and the battle began to take its toll. Charles Leclerc’s car struggled with aggressive graining, causing him to lose significant time, which saw him fall behind not only his teammate Carlos Sainz but also Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. This forced Charles Leclerc into an early pit stop.
In the post-race interview, when asked about the extent of the graining issue, Frederic Vasseur acknowledged its significant impact on Ferrari’s race, emphasizing how it disrupted their performance during a crucial phase of the race: “Not on the medium, but it’s really depending on the pace that you want to have. I think Charles was behind Russell and when he tried one lap to push and to attack Russell, he blew up everything. It was true also for [Lewis] Hamilton at the end. It’s really on the edge always and [the drivers] have to trust their feeling also and it’s not an easy one but it is like it is. It’s true that at the end of the first stint, we lost something like 10 seconds and then you can’t pit also because then you are in the shadow of the mid-pack and if you pit at this stage, you have to overtake everybody. You have to wait for the others, and it’s what happened with Charles, you have to wait for the others to pit, in order to pit yourself and it’s a tricky situation but it’s like it is.” – the French manager pointed out at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Ferrari’s Team Principal, Frederic Vasseur, explained that the graining issues faced during the Las Vegas Grand Prix could not be attributed to a single cause, acknowledging that multiple factors contributed to the challenge.
With the Las Vegas Strip Circuit experiencing extremely low track temperatures, graining was always expected to be a significant challenge for all teams and drivers. However, Ferrari managed to handle the issue more effectively than many others, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc securing strong finishes in third and fourth positions, respectively.
When questioned about whether the Ferrari SF-24 had an inherent issue that led to the difficulties Charles Leclerc faced during the opening stint, the Frenchman clarified that the problem was not as simple as a single flaw. He explained that a range of factors had to be considered, suggesting that the combination of track conditions, tire behavior, and the car’s performance at the circuit all played a role in the struggles the team faced during the race.
“I’m not sure that it’s the Ferrari or the drivers, it’s a combination of conditions. If you push the setup of the car, the compound and sometimes you are putting yourself if you have a look at the second and third stint with the same compound for everybody with the two sets of hard you have also difference of performance, it means that it’s not just related to the car it’s sometimes related to the level of fuel, or how you open the stint. Because if you have a look at Charles for example it’s when he tried to overtake Russell that we lost the tyres and on the second and third stint we have drivers who push a little bit more the first two or three laps and they open the graining much more than the stint after when they are a bit conservative.” – the Ferrari team boss added
“The issue is that when you are on the track you are racing with a competitor and you have a car in front of you and you want to push and it’s very difficult to find the right approach.” – Fred Vasseur concluded.
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