“After a day like this, you have to look at the positive aspects of the weekend, even if it’s difficult to find any when we’re at the final stages of the season and finish with a double retirement,” commented Frederic Vasseur. “In the sprint qualifying we got a good result, the pace in the Sprint Race was solid, and Charles performed well in qualifying. It has been a very difficult Sunday. I had the feeling that, at least with Charles, we were in a strong position, but we paid the price for the contact between Antonelli and Piastri, a situation that was very hard to accept for both him and the team.”
Charles Leclerc expressed his frustration: “It’s frustrating, we are fighting for second place in the Constructors’ Championship, and now it will be harder to secure that position. We will need to approach the next three weekends perfectly to have a chance. The response from the whole team, which managed to completely turn the situation around from Friday to Sunday, was truly impressive.”
Leclerc’s regret was evident. He had held third position at the start and, after the safety car restart, briefly had the opportunity to chase Lando Norris for the lead.
“He was in the right position,” Fred Vasseur added, referring to Charles Leclerc. “He was second and then forced to retire. It’s disappointing because Charles was in a position to fight for the victory or at least a podium. In a situation like this, you not only lose points but also give them away to your rivals.” Charles Leclerc eventually parked his car before Turn 4, watching the race unfold from the marshals’ post—a bitter verdict to accept.
Hamilton’s ordeal was even longer. The initial collision with Carlos Sainz cost Lewis five positions and, more importantly, led to significant loss of downforce when the front wing broke and slid under the floor. Likely frustrated, Hamilton then collided with Franco Colapinto’s Alpine shortly afterward. “Lewis had good pace,” Fred Vasseur noted, “but you can’t recover after two incidents. Retiring the car was the logical decision, as he was last and missing between 30 to 40 downforce points. We therefore served the penalty (applied to Lewis Hamilton for the contact with Franco Colapinto) and then retired the car. It’s very hard to draw conclusions from a weekend like this. We had recovered well after a complicated Friday, but this result is truly unfortunate for us and the championship fight.”
The question of what Charles Leclerc might have achieved in the Brazilian Grand Prix remains unanswered. Ferrari now faces the task of responding strongly at the Las Vegas weekend, with the primary goal of taking points back from Red Bull, who have risen to third in the Constructors’ standings thanks to a spectacular podium finish by Max Verstappen.
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