The Australian Grand Prix saw George Russell take victory ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Charles Leclerc. Ferrari, after a very strong start from both of its drivers, eventually had to concede to the superior race pace shown by the two Mercedes cars. At the end of the opening round of the Formula 1 season, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur spoke about the gap separating Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton from Russell and Antonelli. However, that wasn’t the only topic he addressed, as he also revealed details about Ferrari’s upcoming upgrades.
Fred Vasseur is already looking ahead to the next races on the F1 calendar and to the development work that lies ahead. Speaking to Sky Sport F1, the Ferrari team principal attempted to quantify the advantage Mercedes currently holds over the Maranello-based team: “Maybe they are half a second faster than us and we have to work on every area.”
The Australian Grand Prix was only the first race of the season, but Fred Vasseur has already revealed the development areas Ferrari will focus on with the next set of upgrades, which appear to be arriving very soon. “We know that we will soon bring a nice upgrade to the chassis, but we also need to make a step forward on the engine and on energy management.”
Fred Vasseur added: “However, we need to keep pushing and focus on ourselves. We have a long list, as I said before, of topics where we can improve. We didn’t have a perfect weekend, but in the end it’s still a decent result for the team.”
The next race will take place in China and will be the first Sprint weekend of the season. Teams will have only one hour of practice to set up their cars before heading into Sprint qualifying on Friday and the Sprint race on Saturday. According to Vasseur, the race in China could present a very different scenario compared to what was seen in Melbourne.
“The track in China is completely different because I think this one was among the most demanding circuits for energy management, with the long straight after Turn 4 all the way to almost Turn 12. In China it will be a different story, and the temperatures are also much cooler, so we will start again from zero.”
Fred Vasseur’s transparency regarding the 0.5s deficit suggests a Ferrari team that is realistic yet determined, focusing on the specific “energy-draining” characteristics of the SF-26 that were exposed in Melbourne. As the paddock moves to the colder, high-downforce demands of Shanghai, the success of these early chassis and power unit tweaks will be the first true test of Ferrari’s ability to sustain a season-long development war against a dominant Mercedes.
