The Ferrari team principal, Frédéric Vasseur, commented on the qualifying session for the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, recognizing Mercedes’ clear superiority while also acknowledging mistakes that affected the performance of the SF-26 cars driven by Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari is very close to the other top teams, but not to Mercedes. The Silver Arrows lived up to expectations by dominating qualifying in Australia, showing the full potential of their W17 cars. What truly frightened everyone, however, was not the dominance that was already evident since testing in Bahrain, but the sheer gap they created over Red Bull, Ferrari, and McLaren. Almost eight-tenths of a second—a margin that is genuinely intimidating—because today the W17 cars were racing and fighting among themselves, reminiscent of 2014, as if that season had been transported straight into the present day, simply replacing the names of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg with those of George Russell and Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Ferrari, on the other hand, tried to seize the best position available from the Brackley team, which was third on the grid, but fell short by just a few thousandths of a second. Charles Leclerc was narrowly beaten by a sensational Isack Hadjar but will still start from the second row. This result, however, cannot be considered satisfactory by Frédéric Vasseur.
After the official qualifying sessions in Melbourne, the Ferrari team principal spoke to Sky Sport F1 about the outcome for the SF-26 cars of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton. Vasseur explained that the first day of qualifying had been chaotic and difficult. He admitted that Ferrari had made some errors, noting that it was a pity because he believed there was potential to secure third place on the grid.
He went on to say that Mercedes was on another level, and Ferrari would need to make progress in order to fight with them. “Today Mercedes was truly on another planet,” Vasseur said. “The session was honestly chaotic for everyone, and tomorrow we will need to be fully focused. If you look at the number of problems that nearly all teams experienced today, the race could be very chaotic.”
Fred Vasseur added that Ferrari is still far from reaching its full potential but emphasized that there is room for improvement in the upcoming qualifying sessions. “We have a window to improve over the next qualifying, but for now, we must focus on tomorrow. We will need to seize every opportunity that comes our way,” he said.
While Charles Leclerc managed to partially limit the damage in qualifying, Lewis Hamilton did not get beyond seventh place. The seven-time world champion was nonetheless close to the McLaren cars, with the differences measured in thousandths of a second, which will force him to start from the fourth row.
“Lewis struggled to get the tyres up to the right temperature during his final Q3 lap,” explained Vasseur. “It was much colder than yesterday, and he was really on the edge between doing an extra preparation lap or pushing immediately. A lot depends not just on the chassis but also on energy management in the first corners. The initial attempts were good, but it became much harder afterwards.”
With qualifying behind them, the focus now shifts to the race. Ferrari sees the start as one of the potential opportunities to gain positions, although Vasseur anticipates that the entire race could be chaotic. “The start will be another challenge,” he noted. “With the new procedure, all the cars can get off the line well, but the window for a perfect launch is very small. We will need to do a great job to start cleanly and recover several positions, but for now, we must focus on ourselves.”
Overall, Fred Vasseur acknowledged the gap to Mercedes while highlighting that improvements can still be made. The message to the Ferrari team is clear: the Australian GP presents challenges, but with focus, precision, and strategic decisions, there are still opportunities to maximize results despite the dominance of the Silver Arrows.
