Ferrari slowed by hybrid issue: the revelation of an angry Fred Vasseur
At the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur commented on the performance of the Scuderia in Baku after a weekend full of highs and lows. Once again, Ferrari left empty-handed from one of the few races where they had the potential to fight for victory. The Italian team had arrived in Azerbaijan with both Vasseur and the drivers openly speaking about a win being within reach, only to be forced to face a different reality on track.
After showing strong pace during Friday’s sessions, the SF-25 was unable to threaten its rivals, both in qualifying and in the race. The Maranello squad left Baku with only an eighth and ninth place finish, accompanied by controversy over a failed position swap in the final stages of the race.
In an attempt to chase down Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc was asked to let Lewis Hamilton through, with the team promising the Monegasque driver that the position would be returned later on. However, the swap never materialized, leaving the British driver ahead of his Ferrari teammate at the chequered flag.
Fred Vasseur’s reaction after the race
The confusion over the failed position swap was not the main focus of Fred Vasseur’s post-race comments. Instead, the team principal provided a detailed assessment of Ferrari’s weekend, reflecting on what went wrong and what could have been handled differently. He explained that the car had the pace to compete but circumstances prevented Ferrari from capitalizing on it.
“The pace was there this weekend and that’s why we are frustrated. We failed to put everything together on Saturday and then we had to deal with traffic. We were unable to overtake and spent a lot of time stuck behind other cars. But honestly, this weekend we lost the opportunity on Saturday, not on Sunday in the race,” Fred Vasseur stated.
He continued by underlining the similarities between Ferrari and McLaren in terms of performance characteristics: “It’s honestly difficult to analyze. We’ve had great races, but when McLaren is flying, we suffer. And when they struggle, we also struggle, because our cars share similar characteristics. That’s the situation and there’s not much we can do about it. Yesterday we could have been at the front and that makes me angry.”
Ferrari’s hidden issue in Baku
Finally, Fred Vasseur revealed a technical problem that further limited Ferrari during the Grand Prix. “We had an issue with energy recovery on the straight, and we were missing a couple of kilowatts. That’s why Charles couldn’t make overtakes,” the French team principal explained.
This revelation sheds light on Ferrari’s lack of competitiveness in Baku, where once again their promising start to the weekend faded into disappointment by Sunday.
