Fred Vasseur admits to Ferrari mistakes in Canada: “We damaged ourselves”. Fred Vasseur was honest in admitting Ferrari's mistakes in the 2024 F1 Canadian GP.

The Canadian Grand Prix is undoubtedly a round to be quickly forgotten for Ferrari, which, during the three days in Montreal, got everything wrong and fell victim to every possible problem or bad luck. In fact, after a positive Friday of practice at the 4.361-kilometre Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, the SF-24 inexplicably went into crisis during the final free practice session, ending up being excluded from Q3 with both drivers, due to a questionable strategy but mostly due to a car struggling to “activate” the tires and generate the necessary grip for the drivers to push and perform.

The race was effectively compromised after yesterday’s qualifying session but was equally complex for Ferrari, with Carlos Sainz involved in some contacts at the start and forced to race with a poorly drivable car until he retired due to an accident, and with Charles Leclerc also forced to stop the car due to some mechanical issues on his Ferrari, which forced him into a painful race before the retirement. A three-day period, as described, full of problems and difficulties for the Italian team in Montreal, which was analyzed immediately after the race by team principal Frédéric Vasseur, who first talked about the issues that occurred to the two drivers: engine problems and drivability issues.

“Let’s start with Charles: we had an power unit problem, with engine control issues, and we were losing eight-tenths per lap. We hoped for a red flag to reset and restart. It didn’t come, we did it in the pits, but at that point, Charles’s race was over. Speaking of Carlos, he didn’t start well, he was in the pack and damaged the wing and the floor. It was a difficult weekend.” – the French manager pointed out.

The Ferrari team principal was then honest in admitting the Maranello team’s mistakes, which effectively compromised the weekend much more than the changing weather conditions.

“The conditions didn’t damage us; we damaged ourselves. We had an engine problem that we need to understand; we’ll see tomorrow. Carlos was stuck in the pack and with the car’s damage, was losing 20 points of downforce: six to eight-tenths per lap.” – he pointed out.

Charles Leclerc’s problems, after recent power unit replacements, could raise reliability alarms. Frederic Vasseur dismissed this scenario. Problems, along with qualifying difficulties (apparently understood), made the Canadian round terrible for the Maranello team, which needs to be quickly archived.

“I don’t think it’s a power unit problem, but an issue of controls. The race was chaotic. The problem was Saturday, in the race reliability. We understood what happened in qualifying, but we think we found it. Without problems, Charles would have stayed with the group. We’ll see what happens in Barcelona.” – the Ferrari team principal concluded at the end of the Canadian Grand Prix.