Fred Vasseur: “Good qualifying result just in terms of positions, let’s remain calm” | 2023 Belgium GP. Fred Vasseur on qualifying result.

Charles Leclerc inherits Max Verstappen’s pole
The qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix once again rewarded Max Verstappen, who, after Hamilton’s pole at the Hungaroring last week, returned to dominate at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit, despite less than optimal track conditions. However, this is what the stopwatch showed: despite securing pole on paper, the Dutchman from Red Bull will have to serve a 5-place grid penalty for a gearbox replacement, which means the first position will be taken by Charles Leclerc.

Fred Vasseur happy, but concerned about the gap to Max Verstappen
For the Monegasque driver, after his achievement in Azerbaijan, this is his second pole position of the season, and Ferrari can also count on Carlos Sainz’s 4th place, who is also favored by Verstappen’s penalty. Two Ferraris in the first two rows, with Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur not hiding his satisfaction with the result, despite a significant gap between Leclerc and the #1 Red Bull: “In terms of positions, it’s a good outcome for the team,” he explained to Sky Sport F1, “I believe it was a very complicated session because each time we had only one lap available, we switched from intermediates to slicks, and not having had practice in the morning made it tricky. It’s a good result in terms of positions, but a bit different when we look at Verstappen’s time, so we’ll need to understand that margin.” – the French manager explained.

Optimism and focus
A pole position that doesn’t overly excite the French engineer, who prefers to maintain high focus for tomorrow’s events, with the Sprint Shootout and the Sprint Race itself: “Last week I said that with a gap of one or two tenths, you can go from 2nd place to 5th, and that can result in either a good outcome or a disaster,” he added. “This means staying focused, calm, and making the most of what we have. Today, we did a good job of exploiting the potential, which wasn’t easy, and we thank the drivers for that. Tonight, we will have a lot of work to do analyzing the data to prepare tomorrow’s day in the best way possible. We can be optimistic – he concluded – there will be another session in the morning, and we’ll have to do an excellent job because a small mistake can put you in 5th place. That’s the situation, and I think it’s exciting for everyone. Hopefully, we can confirm ourselves tomorrow, and it’s a great feeling to start from pole on Sunday, but we must always remain calm in our analysis and stay focused tomorrow to do a better job.” – Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur concluded.