Scuderia Ferrari team principal, Frederic Vasseur, expressed his satisfaction with the performance of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz at the 4.318-kilometre Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, with the Monegasque finishing in second place and the Spaniard in fourth after a great race. The Prancing Horse demonstrated to be the leading force at the Red Bull Ring, excluding, of course, the usual Max Verstappen, who was the absolute dominator today and secured his seventh victory of the 2023 Formula One season.
Fred Vasseur satisfied with Scuderia Ferrari’s performance in the Austrian Grand Prix
“Obviously, you always want something more,” the Frenchman stated after the race. “We expect better in the upcoming weekends, but the qualifying went very well, as did the race. However, we can still improve, and if we compare ourselves to Max, there is still some ground to cover. There have been positive steps forward since the beginning of the season. After Montreal, this is confirmation that we’re heading in the right direction.” – the Ferrari boss explained.
“Carlos Sainz did a great job with Perez. However, Perez was faster with new tires, so it was very difficult to keep him behind. Max was flying today, and then there was a group of ten cars that could have finished in second place, including McLaren, Mercedes, Aston Martin, and sometimes Alpine.” – he pointed out.
An excellent performance was also achieved by the two red cars in Spielberg, confirming the improvements seen in Montreal two weeks ago. Despite the nearly 25-second gap to Max Verstappen (before the pit stop on the penultimate lap), Charles Leclerc can smile, thanks to an SF-23 that seems to have finally solved most of its tire management issues.
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“Every time we’ve brought improvements, they have yielded results,” Fred Vasseur continued. “Barcelona was challenging for us because it was the first time with the new package, and we didn’t use it to its fullest potential. But step by step, we understand what we can do. This weekend wasn’t easy either because it was very short with only one practice session.”
Fred Vasseur thanks the Ferrari team for their hard work ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix
“But we have done a good job that confirms what we started in Montreal. I want to mention the guys at the factory because we put enormous pressure on them. They worked 24 hours a day to have the updates ready for this weekend. I couldn’t imagine this result. Clearly, there is progress, and there was progress in Montreal as well, but we didn’t do a great job on Saturday, and when you start so far back, it’s difficult to climb up. But the last two races have been good. Next week, we have a completely different circuit at Silverstone. It will be a good challenge there, and we will gladly face it.”
In conclusion, the Frenchman states: “We shouldn’t think about the personal contribution of one person. It’s the work of a thousand people pushing hard, and the thanks go to them. At Silverstone, we will have the new tires, and I hope that will change the game. But Max will continue to be very fast, maybe even faster than today. But compared to the early races where we were a lap behind, being around 20 seconds behind is positive.”
Carlos Sainz can also smile, as he was perhaps the protagonist of his best race in Ferrari and certainly of the 2023 Formula One season. The Spanish driver showed that he was faster than his teammate for long parts of the race, even displaying exceptional defense against a much faster Perez towards the end of the race. The next race will take place at Silverstone next week. Scuderia Ferrari is called upon to confirm once again their position as the second force, even in Great Britain, and if possible, to continue narrowing the gap to the reigning world champions.
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