It’s hard to believe that the disappointing fifth and seventh places for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton would actually become the highlights of Ferrari’s weekend at the São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil. Despite much more promising signs early on – with Leclerc managing to take third place in Q3 and dreaming of his first-ever podium at Interlagos – it took very little for everything to fall apart completely.
Charles Leclerc’s race ended almost immediately, as he became an innocent victim of the clash between Oscar Piastri and Andrea Kimi Antonelli. Meanwhile, Hamilton was later forced to retire due to excessive damage to the floor of his SF-25, sustained after a rear-end contact with Franco Colapinto at the end of the opening lap. In the end, it was a disastrous outcome for team principal Fred Vasseur, who returns home having lost ground to both Mercedes and Red Bull, further complicating Ferrari’s goal of securing second place in the Constructors’ Championship.
Fred Vasseur speaks after Ferrari’s Brazilian GP disaster
“It was a difficult day,” admitted Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur when speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race. “But we can still look for the positives, such as the race pace we showed during the Sprint Race. The start today was also good, with Charles who unfortunately then became the victim of the accident between Antonelli and Piastri. He was in the right position, had made a perfect start, and would have been running second, but in the end, he paid a very high and harsh price — both for himself and for the team. I think our pace was decent, and even in qualifying, we weren’t actually too far off.”
Fred Vasseur then reflected on the unpredictable nature of the championship: “If we want to look ahead to the next races, it’s very difficult to draw conclusions just from today’s pace. Yesterday, Max Verstappen was out in Q1, and today, without the early puncture, maybe he could have gone on to win. There are a lot of ups and downs, both for us and for everyone else. Looking at the pace we had, it’s hard to imagine what we could have achieved, but I believe we were strong enough to do a good job. It’s definitely not Charles’ fault that he had to retire.”
