The Ferrari Team Principal did not hide his disappointment after the team’s double zero in Brazil, especially considering the ongoing battle with Mercedes for second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
After similar results in China and the Netherlands, Ferrari recorded another double retirement in Brazil. Lewis Hamilton was forced to retire due to heavy floor damage, while Charles Leclerc was taken out in the incident involving Oscar Piastri and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Speaking at the post-race press conference, Frederic Vasseur expressed his frustration, acknowledging that catching Mercedes will now be a real challenge. On what was a disastrous Sunday for the Scuderia, the Frenchman tried to identify a few positives, such as the team’s strong reaction after a difficult start to the weekend.
A day to forget
“It was a tough weekend, or at least a tough Sunday,” said a dejected Fred Vasseur. “I had the feeling that with Charles we were in a good position. He made a great start and restart, left himself some margin heading toward the curb, and we’re now paying the full price for the collision between Antonelli and Piastri. I don’t care who was at fault, but for sure it wasn’t Charles. It’s tough, because in a battle like this you can’t afford to lose points — and when you do, you’re also giving them to your rivals.”
The situation was different for Lewis Hamilton’s retirement. “Lewis suffered damage first in contact with Carlos Sainz, then broke the front wing in a clash with Franco Colapinto. We lost a huge amount of downforce, and he said the car was unstable. We still don’t know whether that came from the contact with Sainz or from the front wing that ended up under the floor — maybe both. Looking at what Max did today, I think we could have climbed back and scored points. But two incidents are just too many.” – the French manager pointed out at the end of the Brazilian Grand Prix.
Asked about the decision to retire Hamilton’s car instead of continuing, Fred Vasseur explained: “At some point, it didn’t make sense to carry on. When you’re last and missing 35–40 points of aerodynamic load, I’m not sure it’s worth risking engine damage. We served the penalty and then retired the car.”
Assessing the weekend
Aside from the retirements, Ferrari experienced a weekend of ups and downs in Brazil. On Friday, the team started off slowly, partly due to the decision to save a set of medium tyres during practice, arriving at the first qualifying session with too many unknowns. “We struggled,” Fred Vasseur admitted. “In FP1, we only ran one set of hard tyres, and maybe the jump to qualifying was too big. I think we were the only team that did that. We suffered a bit in qualifying on Friday, but in the Sprint our pace returned. We got stuck behind Alonso, but once in clean air the rhythm was okay. Saturday’s qualifying went well, but honestly, when you leave Brazil with a double DNF, you can’t call it a good weekend.”
Fred Vasseur also reflected on the broader picture: “At the end of a championship, it’s hard to find positives in a double retirement. If I had to name a few, I’d say our qualifying pace, our recovery from the start of the weekend, and even the restart. We were fighting at the front, focusing on attacking rather than defending, with a positive mindset. That’s definitely good, but at this stage of the season, you focus more on points than on potential.” – the Ferrari team boss concluded.
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