The Ferrari team principal admitted that the weekend was not free from mistakes.
An uphill chase
The last few races have certainly not been kind to Ferrari. Even after the Las Vegas Grand Prix, the team from Maranello has remained fourth in the constructors’ standings, sitting four points behind Red Bull in third and 41 away from Mercedes in second place. The Nevada round was made tougher by a disappointing qualifying session in wet conditions, with Charles Leclerc starting only ninth and Lewis Hamilton down in nineteenth. There was some recovery, with the Monegasque driver finishing fourth and the British driver taking eighth, but the overall feeling is that Ferrari still did not extract the maximum from the imperfect SF-25.
Vasseur admits the mistake
Interviewed by Canal+ after the Las Vegas race, Frédéric Vasseur did not try to hide anything: “The weekend was complicated. Mathematically speaking, it was not a good weekend for us. In the first two practice sessions we were always in front, but then in qualifying we made a high downforce choice for Charles that penalized us today.” Leclerc paid the price in a straight line: “We couldn’t overtake, we were 5 or 6 km/h slower on the straights. We need a weekend without mistakes; that’s the only way to win.” – the French manager pointed out.
Fred Vasseur then broadened the scope of his analysis: “We can make the same observation we’ve been making since the start of the year: we are happy with the pace we have, but not with the points we bring home. And with two races to go, we no longer care about the pace — what matters is scoring points. I am a bit disappointed, a bit like in Brazil where we had good potential and returned home with zero points. It’s frustrating, but that’s racing.” – the former Alfa Romeo team boss concluded.
Two rounds remain. Two final chances for Ferrari to turn strong underlying speed into the victory that has eluded them all season. As Fred Vasseur made clear, nothing less than perfection in Qatar and Abu Dhabi will do.
