Carlos Sainz manages to get on the podium in the Austrian GP thanks to the contact between Norris and Verstappen, while Charles Leclerc finishes outside the points: Frederic Vasseur’s analysis after the race.
After a very complicated sprint weekend, Ferrari at least manages to bring home a podium in the Austrian GP, with Carlos Sainz taking advantage of the fratricidal battle between Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to climb to the third step of the podium, although he conceded the second position to Oscar Piastri at the end.
Austrian GP, Fred Vasseur’s analysis
Charles Leclerc was very unfortunate, getting caught in traffic at the start and having to replace the front wing following contact at turn 1 with Oscar Piastri. The Monegasque driver managed to recover to eleventh place but finished about five seconds from the tenth position, taken by an excellent Pierre Gasly.
Interviewed by Sky Sport after the race, Frederic Vasseur assessed Ferrari’s performance over the Austrian weekend: “It’s a bit of a mixed feeling because in the end, it’s a good result to be on the podium. Overall, regarding the standings, it’s not a great weekend.”
“Now we have a bit of frustration though because I believe that during the weekend we were in a position to do a better job and achieve a better result. We had that problem with Charles in the shootout, and then in yesterday’s qualifying, we could have done a better job. But overall, it was a good result for the team today.” – he pointed out.
No return to the past
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Despite the updates introduced in Spain causing more than a few headaches for the technicians in finding the right balance on the SF24, the Frenchman absolutely does not intend to take a step back: “We have to be ambitious and look forward. We have to try to develop what we have, but doing a better job than this weekend, obviously.”
“It’s true that we made a good step forward this weekend, between Friday and Saturday, but it’s not enough. We have to continue developing and pushing so that both cars are fighting for points. It would have been a much better weekend with both cars up front.”
Towards Silverstone and beyond
The circus is now set to head to Silverstone, another crucial crossroads for the prancing horse’s season, which will see the introduction of the remaining part of the updates from Barcelona: “We have to improve and focus on the future, and develop from the point we reached today. The latest package brought us good points in terms of aerodynamics, and we have to start from here.”
The French manager then focused on the start contact between Charles Leclerc and Oscar Piastri, labeling it as a racing incident: “They were three almost on the same line with Perez and Piastri. I haven’t even reviewed the incident. I saw it live and then focused on the race, but I have the feeling that he found himself in the middle of the two. I think it’s a racing incident.” – the Ferrari team principal concluded at the end of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Source: f1ingenerale
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