Frederic Vasseur and the George Russell penalty
Frederic Vasseur didn’t look for loopholes to secure Ferrari’s first podium of the season as he spoke to Sky after the 2025 Bahrain GP. The Ferrari team principal did not ask for a penalty for George Russell, which would have promoted Charles Leclerc (who finished less than five seconds behind the Mercedes driver) to third place:
“George Russell lost the transponder, so there were no lap times or GPS, and they had to deactivate the automatic DRS system, which he then had to manage manually. He opened the DRS, and I think it was a mistake on that lap, because there was no one in front of him… But I don’t think they’ll penalize him because it was a small gain and he didn’t do it on purpose.”
Ferrari’s strategy analysis
Beyond the stewards’ matters, Frederic Vasseur also commented on Ferrari’s race strategy:
“I think Mercedes was very aggressive, and even Russell said it was something bold. It really was and it surprised us. But the Safety Car didn’t help us because it came out right when we were the fastest on track, but it went how it went. What would we have done? It depended on the pace, but if we had maintained what we had until then—strong and consistent—we could have extended the stint and then fitted Softs.”
“The problem,” added the Ferrari pit wall boss, “is that when the Safety Car came out there were 24 laps to go, and it was too risky to go for Softs. Starting on Mediums and then using another set of Mediums meant that in the end we could choose between Hards and Softs depending on tyre degradation. It was the most flexible strategy, because if degradation was high, we could go for Hards, otherwise Softs in case of low tyre wear.”
“I don’t know if it was the best we could do,” he concluded regarding race tactics, “because when we decided to extend the first stint, we wanted to have an advantage in the final phase with fresher tyres, but the Safety Car took away that advantage. But that mustn’t be an excuse, it is what it is, you can’t predict the Safety Car and you can’t complain when it comes out.”
The new floor doesn’t make the difference
Frederic Vasseur also spoke about Ferrari’s performance after introducing its upgrade package:
“Where is Ferrari? We are where we are, and I think it’s clear to everyone that McLaren is a step ahead. In some conditions, like in the second stint of the race, we’re right there. But overall, on average, they’re 2 or 3 tenths faster than us—maybe more in some stints, maybe less in others. But the advantage is in that range, and we’re battling with Mercedes and Red Bull. That’s how it is. I think the situation can change from track to track and session to session, but for now we’re in the group with Red Bull and Mercedes.”
“New floor? Yes, but we have to temper expectations,” he added, “because we’re talking about a few hundredths of a second. The key factor for performance across the whole paddock right now is tyres and tyre management. And Jeddah is almost the opposite of Bahrain because it’s a track where you can do ten qualifying laps on the same set.”
Frederic Vasseur defends Lewis Hamilton
The final comment was about Lewis Hamilton’s disappointing weekend, despite a solid comeback in the race:
“I understand the frustration, because in Free Practice 1 and up until Q2 he did a great job—one lap he was ahead of Charles, the next behind. Then in Q3 he lost his first run (due to track limits) and in the second attempt he made a mistake and qualified ninth. Today he had a good race; he finished ahead of Max Verstappen and other cars that were in front of him. But if you start that far back, it gets tough,” concluded Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.
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