Ferrari’s result at Zandvoort fell well short of the expectations of both the team and its drivers, despite Frédéric Vasseur believing the Scuderia had enough pace to win the Dutch Grand Prix. The Ferrari team principal also explained the misunderstanding involving Lewis Hamilton during a race in which execution, strategy and communication prevented the team from converting its speed into a stronger result.
There was no shortage of frustration from Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc after the Dutch GP, with both Ferrari drivers involved in several incidents and strategic situations that influenced their races. Speaking during Paddock Live, broadcast on Sky Sport Italia’s channel 207, Frédéric Vasseur identified the decisive moment of Ferrari’s weekend not so much in Sunday’s race, but in Saturday’s qualifying session.
Fred Vasseur says Ferrari’s Dutch GP opportunity was lost in qualifying
Frédéric Vasseur believes Ferrari’s race pace was good enough to achieve considerably more at Zandvoort, but admitted the team failed to execute the Grand Prix perfectly. His assessment also reinforced the significance of Ferrari’s difficult Dutch GP qualifying session, which left the team with more work to do on Sunday.
“After the race, it is always easy to say that things could have gone differently. First of all, I think the pace was good with both cars and I believe we could have achieved a better result today. If we were missing something, it was more yesterday in qualifying than today. In the race, the execution wasn’t perfect: we had a bad start with Charles Leclerc, we lost a position to Oscar Piastri even though we were on the Softs, and then we also had a bad pit stop.”
Why Ferrari did not swap Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc
Frédéric Vasseur then clarified what happened with Lewis Hamilton and explained the circumstances behind Ferrari’s decision not to reverse the positions of its two drivers. According to the Ferrari team principal, the situation was complicated by the team’s desire not to reveal its strategic intentions over the radio to its rivals.
“With Lewis Hamilton, however, there was a misunderstanding. We didn’t want to talk about it on the radio, but during that phase we expected to go all the way to the end. We had Kimi Antonelli behind us and he was struggling, and that is why we didn’t swap the positions, because Charles Leclerc had to pit.”
“Of course, we could have done better, but it was also difficult to explain the situation to Lewis Hamilton without revealing our plan to the others. That led to that situation, but I don’t think that decision cost us anything. More than anything, I think everything changed yesterday in qualifying, because the pace was strong both in the Sprint and in today’s race.”
The situation contributed to Lewis Hamilton’s frustration with Ferrari’s Dutch GP strategy, but Frédéric Vasseur remained convinced that the team’s failure to maximise qualifying had a greater impact on the final outcome than the decision not to swap the cars.
Ferrari changed Charles Leclerc’s tyre strategy after Verstappen debris
Frédéric Vasseur also returned to Charles Leclerc’s strategy and Ferrari’s tyre choices, explaining why the original plan had to be modified during the race.
“We started with the used tyres so that we could use the new ones in the third stint, then Charles Leclerc picked up some debris after Max Verstappen’s accident and for that reason we were not sure about the set. So we decided to fit the new tyres immediately. That wasn’t the plan, but that’s how it went.”
Fred Vasseur says Ferrari must be perfect at Monza
Attention inevitably now turns towards the next round of the Formula 1 World Championship and the event Ferrari supporters anticipate more than any other: the Italian Grand Prix at Monza.
Frédéric Vasseur expects Ferrari’s straight-line performance deficit to remain a factor at the Italian circuit, making flawless execution even more important in such a closely matched field.
“The straight-line performance gap will also be there at Monza. I think today we had the pace to win the race, but it was all about execution, and that means we will have to be perfect at Monza if we want to achieve a better result. But that applies both to us and to the others. We are all very close and we saw in Sprint Qualifying that there were four cars within six hundredths.”
“But if you don’t do a perfect job, you start fifth or sixth and it’s over. That is a good lesson for everyone, for us and for the team. We will have to put everything together if we want to do better than today in two weeks’ time at Monza.”
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