After the success in Monaco, Ferrari appears lost, unable to continue the growth it had relentlessly pursued since the end of last year, which was supposed to bring the team to compete equally with Red Bull and McLaren. Instead, after the British GP, the Scuderia has proven to be the fourth force on the field behind McLaren, Red Bull, and Mercedes, still grappling with various difficulties and issues in understanding and operating the SF-24 and its tire management, which has become enigmatic for the technicians, with porpoising reappearing.
This phenomenon, which seemed to have disappeared, reappeared after the introduction of developments in Spain: a phenomenon not visible from the data, which is undermining the drivers’ confidence and causing detrimental effects on the car’s stability and the tires, pushing the technicians to question their confidence in the latest Spec of the SF-24. This lack of confidence led the technical staff at Silverstone, after some comparative tests on Friday (with Charles Leclerc in the evolved car and Carlos Sainz with the Imola Spec), to send the car out without the latest upgrades. Essentially, a step back to maximize performance on British soil.
This decision, made to maximize the drivers’ confidence in the car (more stable in fast corners without the upgrades) and performance, did not bring the desired results, as the Scuderia finished the race in fifth place with Carlos Sainz and well out of the points with Charles Leclerc (also due to a completely wrong strategy). Another negative weekend, which was analyzed by team principal Fréd Vasseur in an interview with Sky Sport F1.
The French manager first spoke about Charles Leclerc’s race, compromised by the decision to fit intermediate tires on a track that was only slightly damp but still suited for soft tires. A decision that, in hindsight, was wrong but taken as a risk to try something different, which it makes no sense to dwell on to find blame.
“It’s always easy to talk afterwards. We gave the same information to the drivers who were not in the same area of the track. Charles was 10 seconds behind Carlos and made a more aggressive decision. Is it part of the game? I don’t think so. I think it was more a matter of circumstances. If we had been in a better position, we would have made a different decision.” – the French manager pointed out.
Frédéric Vasseur then commented on Carlos Sainz’s race, whose fifth place saved the day for Ferrari, delivering a good race where, data in hand, strategy had little influence, as the Spaniard was well behind the leading group and well ahead of the midfield.
“Carlos was conservative in the first part of the stint then he was able to improve. At the beginning, he was slower than the leading group and then he progressed. Could he have pitted one lap earlier for the final stop? Maybe, but he had a good race anyway.” – the Ferrari team principal explained.
It’s a difficult time for the Scuderia, both on the track due to the upgrades that haven’t worked, and because of rumors about possible departures or arrivals of technicians. Fred Vasseur did not want to talk about this, as the priority for the Scuderia today is to find an immediate turnaround to resume the growth path from the beginning of the year.
“That’s not what the team is focused on. It’s more the people around who are talking about Adrian Newey or Enrico Cardile. We need to turn things around. The last 3 Grands Prix have been complicated, especially after the Spanish package which gave us problems. Here at Silverstone, it was the same and we went backwards. The potential wasn’t that bad.” – the Ferrari team boss concluded at the end of the British Grand Prix.
