Ferrari secures its first podium of the season
Ferrari’s team principal, Frederic Vasseur, can finally crack a faint smile even on a Sunday evening. After the tension caused by disappointing qualifying performances and the joy from the Chinese Sprint immediately cut short by the double disqualification in Shanghai, the Scuderia was back to racing fast. And it showed in Jeddah, albeit with only one of the two SF-25s, the one in the hands of an extraordinary Charles Leclerc, who managed the tyres well and perfectly executed the strategy devised for him by the pit wall.
Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur speaks
“It’s clear,” said Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur to Sky after the race, “that this weekend if we’re not one or two steps ahead, it’s because of qualifying, because the race pace was very good. Charles was a bit conservative at the start, being in the dirty air, because he knew we wanted to extend the first stint, and he did very well in terms of management. Then, the pace from lap ten to the end I think was even better than Verstappen’s and Piastri’s, but that’s how it went, and we’ll need to try to be more consistent throughout the weekend and in all sessions, especially qualifying, so we can do a better job and start in a better position.”
The Maranello pit wall boss denied that the team is being carried solely by Charles’ passion:
“Leclerc keeps the Ferrari dream alive? No, it’s not about saving the dream or anything like that. We need to work together as a team to push, to keep developing, to keep improving. Clearly, we have weaknesses and I’m thinking mainly about qualifying because the race pace is always a bit better, but it’s always a team effort. It’s not just one person saving the others, nor is it the team pushing Charles. We’re all in the same boat.”
The problem is (not) in the slow corners
The Ferrari boss also spoke about the difficulties in turn 1 seen in qualifying and then gone in the race:
“We don’t have issues in slow corners, because the pace was consistent throughout the lap and in every kind of corner. If yesterday we struggled enormously in the first chicane, today we were probably the fastest on track in turns 1-2. This is a good lesson and we’ll have to discuss with Charles what we did differently compared to yesterday. In these situations, tyre preparation is crucial, but we’re still lacking some performance on the flying lap. Everything counts in the end, it’s not just one detail. There’s no magic wand that gives you those three tenths.”
“Performance,” he continued, “never comes from just one pillar, but a bit from everything. It was our attitude last year and it paid off because we were very far behind at the beginning and then we caught up. We need to keep the same approach and I’m sure this podium will help us in that sense. We have a points deficit compared to McLaren, it’s significant. And clearly, we wanted to be in a better situation, but we look ahead. Let’s focus on the next races, on continuing to work and push as a group, and the result will come. Do I still think about the championship? No, I’m thinking about Miami and I don’t think it’s a mistake to do so, because we know the car still has some weaknesses.”
Ferrari, is Fred Vasseur criticising Hamilton?
There was also a remark about Lewis Hamilton, who finished seventh and over 30 seconds behind Charles Leclerc:
“It was tough today, he struggled even if in the end he had a decent second stint. But then, when he was in dirty air, it got more complicated. Overall he’s been having too many ups and downs so far. We’re having ups and downs, but he’s also having some ups and downs. We need to be more consistent as a team, we need to do a better job even in FP3 to prepare for qualifying. I think that’s the main issue, we need to be on it in every session and not just for 25 laps in the race or two in qualifying.”
“Miami? It will be quite difficult because there’s also the Sprint. We’ll only have one hour of practice, so I’m not sure it makes sense to bring updates. We’ll probably bring something new for Imola, because Miami will be complicated,” concluded Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur.
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