Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has revealed that the team plans to essentially “start from scratch” at the Monaco Grand Prix in an effort to address its ongoing struggles with qualifying performance. The Ferrari SF-25 has shown stronger capabilities over race distances rather than delivering the single-lap speed crucial for success in Monaco, where qualifying pace often plays a more decisive role than race performance itself.
Charles Leclerc, the reigning Monaco race winner, has expressed tempered expectations about securing a consecutive home victory, acknowledging that the weekend could prove challenging for the Scuderia. This cautious outlook comes after a difficult showing at Imola, where both Ferrari drivers were eliminated in Q2. Despite these setbacks, Lewis Hamilton demonstrated strong racecraft by recovering from 12th on the grid to finish fourth, while Charles Leclerc fought his way up to sixth starting from 11th, signaling that the Italian side still retains flashes of competitive pace.
As the team prepares to take on the unique demands of the Monaco circuit, the former Alfa Romeo boss emphasized the need to focus intensely on resolving the issues related to single-lap speed in qualifying to optimize race results. He highlighted that, although Ferrari has often been competitive during race conditions, they continue to lag behind rivals such as McLaren when it comes to qualifying.
Fred Vasseur pointed out that over the past three or four races, the team’s race pace has been consistently superior to its qualifying performance. He cited examples such as Jeddah, where Ferrari was the fastest car on Sunday, and Miami, where their race pace outmatched qualifying speed. However, despite their efforts to extract peak performance on Saturdays, recent weekends have revealed persistent struggles without a clear explanation.
The Ferrari boss acknowledged the urgency of dedicating all available resources to tackling this problem, especially with the Monaco GP weekend approaching. He stressed that the real test would come on Saturday evening, when qualifying concludes, making it imperative for Ferrari to significantly improve its Saturday pace.
Fred Vasseur conceded that while the team aims to deliver a better qualifying result than recently achieved, the challenge at Monaco will be greater due to the track’s distinct characteristics, especially concerning tire management and preparation. He confirmed that Ferrari intends to approach the weekend with a fresh mindset, essentially resetting their approach to better understand the root causes of their qualifying shortcomings and to implement improvements moving forward.
Leave a Reply