After a challenging race at a circuit that seemed well-suited to Ferrari’s SF24, Scuderia team principal Frederic Vasseur attributed their inability to fight for the win to “inconsistent performance.”
Heading into the Las Vegas weekend, Ferrari were considered strong contenders. However, the team was caught off guard on Thursday when Mercedes delivered an unexpectedly dominant performance.
Despite this, Ferrari secured promising grid positions, with Carlos Sainz starting second and Charles Leclerc in fourth for the 50-lap event. At the start, Charles Leclerc made a strong move to claim second place at the first corner, while the Spaniard slipped to third.
In the early stages, both Ferrari drivers seemed to have the pace to contend, but by Lap 8, their tires deteriorated rapidly, forcing an early switch to the hard compound. On the hards, however, the team demonstrated competitive speed, allowing both drivers to recover and finish in third and fourth, salvaging valuable points for the team.
Reflecting on the race, Frederic Vasseur acknowledged that Ferrari’s inconsistent performance over the course of the event prevented them from mounting a serious challenge for victory in Las Vegas.
“First of all, congratulation to Max Verstappen on winning the title. As for our race, we struggled a lot in the first stint on the Mediums, losing about two seconds per lap towards the end and again at the end of the second stint, the first one on the Hards. Overall, our pace on the Hards was decent, but we lost too much time in the early stages and generally our pace was a bit too inconsistent. In the end today’s race was a case of damage limitation, but at some point we have to score more points than everyone else and we cannot just settle for this damage limitation if we want to keep the fight open.” – the Ferrari team boss pointed out at the Las Vegas Grand Prix.
Frederic Vasseur remains hopeful that the Italian side can maintain their championship ambitions during next weekend’s race in Qatar at the Lusail International Circuit. However, he is concerned that the circuit could highlight the vulnerabilities of the SF24: “We scored 12 points more than McLaren and 16 more than Red Bull. Let’s see what we can do next week in Qatar, a track that on paper does not suit us best, but in which there is a Sprint and so even more points on offer. As a team, we need to do a better job at the next race” – the Ferrari team principal added.
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