Fred Vasseur focused on race: “Let’s not underestimate Aston Martin” | 2023 Brazilian GP. Fred Vasseur reflects on Ferrari's performance in Brazil qualifying.

Chaotic Q3

The qualifying session for the Brazilian Grand Prix, held on Friday to make way for the Sprint Shootout and Sprint race on Saturday, was once again a double-sided affair for Ferrari. Smiles were seen in the box of Charles Leclerc, who did an excellent job finishing second behind only Max Verstappen, while the disappointment was all for Carlos Sainz, who finished eighth and was particularly upset about the timing of his exit during the chaotic Q3, affected by very strong winds and the bad weather approaching Interlagos. The delay in entering the track cost the Spaniard dearly, as he faced strong and variable winds and a track with no grip in the final sector.

A Matter of Timing

“Charles had excellent qualifications, and from Q1, he was always in the front,” commented Frederic Vasseur, the team principal of Maranello, to Sky Sport F1. “It was different for Carlos, mainly because he came out later in the last session, and in these conditions, he encountered stronger winds than the others. The last three drivers to leave the pit lane were also the last three in the rankings,” noted the French manager. The fact that it was a Sprint weekend forced teams and drivers to also deal with a challenging tire management.

“When you perform well, you always feel like it wasn’t too difficult,” added Fred Vasseur. “On one hand, you need to push and put on the soft tires as soon as possible. On the other hand, you also need to try to save a set of tires for tomorrow, which means we’ve ‘protected’ a set for the Shootout. This is good news and represents a good start to the weekend.” The positioning of the garages in the pit lane also had an impact, according to Fred Vasseur. “We are at the pit lane entrance, so we are further back compared to Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. It’s true that when you go out too early, you risk having cold tires, which is not nice in these conditions, so you need to find the balance. When you are close to the pit lane entrance and others exit before you, the latter has an advantage, but in the end, everything went pretty well.” – he continued.

Aston Martin Danger

The surprise of the day was the revived Aston Martin, capable of monopolizing the entire second row with Lance Stroll in third and Fernando Alonso in fourth. An additional potential threat for Sunday’s race that Fred Vasseur doesn’t want to ignore: “We must not underestimate Aston,” he explained. “They’ve been performing well since this morning, and now they are up there. In qualifying, they had the advantage of finding the wind later because they went out earlier, but I don’t want to underestimate them. At least we won’t be sandwiched between Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez,” he concluded. “Race pace? I think we will have a clearer picture after the Sprint, which will be the first long stint we do.”