Fred Vasseur gives verdict on Lewis Hamilton’s Monza penalty: “A pity, but we chose not to protest”. Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur discusses Monza GP expectations.

Home race for Ferrari

Ferrari arrives at Monza for its home Grand Prix with the memory of the Zandvoort setback still fresh, but also with a strong desire to give the thousands of Prancing Horse fans a reason to celebrate. These supporters will be present at the track and have already shown their love for the Maranello team on Wednesday evening in Milan. Speaking with Italian journalists at the historic Brianza circuit, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur expressed hope that the characteristics of the Temple of Speed—almost the complete opposite of the Dutch GP—could put the SF-25 of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton back in contention for the top positions.

Turning Zandvoort around

“Different track, different temperatures, different tire compounds? We hope the result will also be different,” Vasseur commented humorously at the start of the press conference. “Monza suits our car better than Zandvoort? I hope so. We were not very optimistic for Zandvoort. I think it was mainly the difficult Friday sessions that influenced our final result, because in FP1 and FP2 we were 1.6 or 1.7 seconds behind. Then you make some adjustments to the car, the drivers change their approach a bit, and so on, but it is still very hard to take those last small steps. Starting behind George Russell made things even more difficult. That is why here we need to put everything together from the very start of the weekend, beginning tomorrow. Last year we weren’t brilliant in qualifying, but we had a great race pace. Monza is also different from Zandvoort because here overtaking is possible.” – the Frenchman pointed out.

No protests

The weekend will start on a challenging note for Lewis Hamilton. The seven-time world champion already knows he will serve a five-place grid penalty for the infraction committed before the start of the Dutch GP. On this topic, Fred Vasseur chose not to complain and explained why the team decided not to challenge the stewards’ decision: “Giving advice to Hamilton for his first Italian GP in Ferrari? I think he has enough experience to handle this type of situation,” Fred Vasseur commented with a hint of irony. “Of course, a grid penalty is not the best way to start the weekend. I would prefer a +5 rather than a -5,” he joked, “but that’s how it went. We decided not to protest or use the right of review, because I think the right approach for Monza is to focus completely on performance. After all, five places at Monza are probably less punishing than five places at Monaco or Zandvoort. But I really want the whole team to concentrate on this weekend, on performance, on doing their job, and not on protesting something else.” – the French manager concluded ahead of the Italian Grad Prix weekend.