Ferrari, the potential is there but not visible: Fred Vasseur between excuses and hopes
The Baku weekend once again shone a spotlight on Ferrari’s internal management, with team principal Fred Vasseur called upon to explain the team orders given to Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. The Monegasque driver gave up his position to his teammate in order to attempt an attack on Lando Norris, but the move did not work out. On the final lap, the team requested a swap to restore the original positions, but the operation was unsuccessful.
Vasseur spoke about strategic differences and technical problems, stressing that the real weak point had been in qualifying. Despite Mercedes overtaking Ferrari in the constructors’ standings, the team principal remains optimistic, although he openly admitted there is a clear performance issue.
Vasseur explains the swap between Leclerc and Hamilton
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur explained the reasoning behind issuing team orders to Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc in Baku. The Monegasque was told to let his teammate through so Lewis Hamilton could try to attack Lando Norris and the cars ahead. Leclerc had started on the medium tyres, while Hamilton was on the hards—a strategy that ultimately proved slightly stronger.
Leclerc complied, but Hamilton was unable to overtake the McLaren driver.
“I think the situation was clear for us, Lewis had an advantage in terms of tyres and we asked Charles to let him pass to try to overtake… Norris. Also, Charles had an issue with energy recovery and we are not at the maximum with the engine. I think this was the best option for us,” Fred Vasseur explained.
Hamilton could not pass Norris. So what happened next?
When Hamilton failed to gain ground, a second call came through on the final lap to swap the positions back. Hamilton slowed down by around two seconds to comply with the order but crossed the line just 0.4s ahead of his teammate.
“We asked to swap positions, and it seems Lewis misjudged the location of the start-finish line,” the French manager added, without suggesting that Charles Leclerc had taken Lewis Hamilton’s actions badly.
The disappointing result for both Ferrari drivers dropped the team behind Mercedes in the constructors’ standings, with the Silver Arrows now four points ahead in the battle for second place. However, Fred Vasseur emphasized that Ferrari’s weekend had already gone off course during qualifying rather than in the race itself.
“If we lost something, it was yesterday, not today. Today we started behind Norris and finished behind Norris. I think it was more yesterday that we had the right car. The driver was able to fight for P1 in all the practice sessions, and then we ended up 10th and 12th. Lewis—FP1, FP2, FP3 were good. There was strong pace during the weekend. Even the first run in Q1 was good. But in Q2 he did two laps that were off the pace. That was the main issue of the weekend, those two laps. Because honestly, if you put him in the top four, I think he would have finished on the podium.”
Fred Vasseur still sees reasons for optimism
Although Ferrari endured a difficult weekend in Baku, Fred Vasseur still believes there are reasons to remain hopeful.
“We need to work better collectively, because twelfth place is not the result we expect. But it’s true that in the last two weekends, if you consider this, Monza and even Zandvoort, the pace was good. We are getting there. One thing is having the potential, another is executing it. We need to execute better to do our job,” he said.
Despite the Ferrari team principal’s optimism—repeating that the potential exists but is not being realized—fans’ disappointment is mounting with seven races remaining. After a season that was expected to deliver “at least one title,” the SF-25 has revealed itself as a mediocre car that fails to excel in any particular area.
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