The Team Principal calls on the squad to understand the mistakes made in Qatar during the car-setup preparation.
Ferrari wrapped up a deeply painful Qatar Grand Prix, with setup weaknesses clearly visible through the constant corrections at the wheel by Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc. Fred Vasseur stated that the team struggled to manage the extremely high tyre-pressure prescriptions imposed by Pirelli, even though this alone does not fully explain Ferrari’s difficulties in Doha. The Team Principal is convinced that the lack of performance came mainly from the setup, and he defended the decision to halt development of the SF-25 at the end of April.
Between tyre pressures and power steering issues
On Friday, Fred Vasseur openly explained how Ferrari had decided months ago to stop the 2025 car development in the spring, but he insisted that the problems encountered in Qatar were not caused by that decision. “A couple of races ago we were on the podium, which means it’s not just about development,” commented the Team Principal. “The others have not developed the car from Austin to today. I think this weekend we struggled a lot with the setup and it was probably linked to the pressure prescriptions. We struggled from the first to the last lap. Probably today it was a bit better, but only marginally.”
He added: “As a team we need to try to understand what we got wrong this weekend. From what I understood, it depended on the pressure prescriptions. The tyres were inflated like balloons and we struggled to manage this. However, this was the case for everyone. It means we did a worse job than the others.”
On Friday the team also encountered several power-steering issues that hindered the drivers’ initial evaluation of the car and slowed down the preparation work. Fred Vasseur continued: “It’s no secret that at the beginning of the weekend we had a power-steering problem and it probably contributed to the difficulties with the setup. In qualifying and in the sprint race we couldn’t change anything, then we made big adjustments. I think today the situation was quite okay, but we started too far away from the ideal setup, while the others made refinements.”
The development decision
Despite the mistakes made in preparing for the Qatar event, it is undeniable that the Ferrari SF-25 lacks competitiveness. Still, Fred Vasseur defended the decision made at the end of April to stop its development: “When we decided to focus on 2026, we were not optimistic about being able to catch McLaren by the end of the year. This was the reasoning behind the decision and honestly I think it was the right one. What I probably underestimated is the fact that when you stop developing the car, it becomes difficult to keep everyone’s expectations high within the team, which is important. This weekend, for example, we all had the same cars from two weeks ago. It means it depended more on the track and the conditions than anything else.”
The development stop contributed to Ferrari’s track difficulties, which in turn led to increased pressure from the media. “It certainly doesn’t help, but it’s part of our job,” commented the Team Principal. “When we achieve good results we’re world champions, while when we have a difficult session we’re nowhere. As a team, however, we must stay in our bubble and try to do our best with what we have. Surely this weighs on us, but we need to face this type of situation.”
McLaren’s strategy
In closing, Fred Vasseur was asked about the events at Lusail, especially McLaren’s decision not to take advantage of the Safety Car to clear the first pit stop: “Honestly, I didn’t understand it. For me it was quite obvious that you had to pit if there was a Safety Car on lap 7,” commented the Team Principal. “Maybe they were afraid of blocking each other in the pit-lane traffic and giving one of the two cars an advantage. But honestly, I don’t want to comment. I already have enough to deal with regarding my car and my team.” – the French manager concluded.
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