Ferrari at the bottom of the points zone
Ninth and tenth place for Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at Silverstone in the British Grand Prix. A disappointing result resulting from an unfortunate Safety Car period, but overall a pace that was not sufficient to keep up with Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes. Team principal Frederic Vasseur discussed this with Sky Sport F1 at the end of the Silverstone race.
Frederic Vasseur’s analysis
“Too many difficulties today? Yes and no. We started having issues on Friday: we didn’t do the race simulation with Charles, and we only tested the soft tires over a long distance. We were alarmed by the degradation we experienced and decided to use medium and hard compounds. However, even with those tires, we didn’t push enough; we were too conservative. The degradation turned out to be much lower than expected. Then we had bad luck with the Safety Car. We lost a couple of positions, but the main problem was that our pace was too conservative.” – the French manager pointed out.
“Is Silverstone an anomaly? No, I think we could have done a much better job with the package we had. I spoke with Charles, and he felt there was no degradation. We decided to be conservative, and it was not the right choice. Tires? With all the compounds, we were too conservative. When we put on the hard tires with Charles, it was easy to achieve the target we had set, but it still wasn’t good enough. Without the Safety Car, we would have finished a couple of positions higher, but it wasn’t the target we expected, and it wasn’t enough for us. Testing only the soft tires on Friday cost us dearly. We were afraid of degradation and didn’t know about the mediums and hards. That made us overly cautious in the race.” – Fred Vasseur continued.
“We will move from Silverstone to Budapest, two extreme tracks with extreme weather conditions. Then there will be Spa. This means we will cover a wide range of circuits. Adapting the package to each track will be crucial. We will continue to develop the car. We will bring new parts soon. But we are so close between second and tenth place that every little mistake costs a fortune. Am I worried about the updates from others? Absolutely not.” – the Ferrari boss replied.
“If we had put everything together yesterday, we probably would have been on the front row. What happened today is a consequence of the start of the season. We were afraid of degradation and were too conservative. Updates for 2024? We know it’s now a matter of optimization. Going from 2nd to 10th place is just a matter of one or two tenths per lap. Silverstone wasn’t the best track for us on paper, but we didn’t make the most of the package we had. We need to do a better job in the next race. McLaren? They have already made progress in Austria. Norris was slower than us, but clearly the third-fastest on track. Silverstone suits them more than us, but let’s see in two weeks. We need to reset everything; it will be a different challenge. It’s exciting to swing from seconds to tenths, but we hope to be second. And to be closer to the top spot.” – Frederic Vasseur concluded following the British Grand Prix.
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