In Azerbaijan, Scuderia Ferrari came close to a second consecutive victory following the splendid Sunday afternoon in the Italian Grand Prix, but in the end, it was McLaren who unfortunately took revenge after Monza. Oscar Piastri’s win stung for Ferrari, with Frederic Vasseur confirming that in Baku, the Red car was the one to beat. However, the Team Principal remains optimistic and urges his team to achieve a good result in Singapore next week, keeping their championship hopes alive.
Fred on the decisive moment
Frederic Vasseur reflected on the key moments that led to the defeat in Baku: “We would have done better to pit a lap earlier, but that’s another story. The plan was to build a gap and pit a lap later.” However, the Team Principal doesn’t believe the pit wall made a mistake: “It wasn’t a risk, on the contrary. I think when you have a five-second lead over Piastri, if you respond [to his stop] the next lap, you avoid the risk of a Safety Car. It might not be optimal, but at least it’s the safer option.”
The timing of the pit stop wasn’t the only factor that allowed Oscar Piastri to catch up with Charles Leclerc. Frederic Vasseur also reflected on the overly cautious approach to bringing the tires up to temperature after the stop: “We were a bit timid on the out-lap. Clearly, we lost time to Piastri on the pit stop lap, but also in getting back into rhythm. We thought that to make the tires last 30 laps, we needed to have a slow introduction and avoid pushing too hard on the out-lap, but without losing position.” – the Frenchman pointed out.
The dirty air barrier
Immediately after the race, Charles Leclerc attributed the difficulty in overtaking McLaren to Ferrari’s reduced effectiveness once the hard tires were mounted. However, Fred Vasseur disagrees with the Monegasque’s analysis: “Maybe, but I’m not entirely convinced. I think it’s more about the fact that for 30 laps, we were stuck behind someone in dirty air. […] This really damages the tires. Today, we probably had a better pace than Piastri, but that’s how it goes.”
“Two weeks ago at Monza, it was probably the opposite: track position is important, and when you spend 20 laps behind someone, you strain the rear tires trying to overtake, while the front tires are in dirty air and slip more.” Frederic Vasseur then returned to what happened with Leclerc’s Ferrari at the end of Baku: “After 25 laps, you start degrading the tires more than those in front of you. I think this is what happened during the first stint with Piastri when he was behind us. He stayed behind for 10 laps, and in the last five, we opened a large gap.”
Looking towards Singapore
Overall, Frederic Vasseur seemed pleased with Ferrari’s competitiveness in Azerbaijan: “The pace was good throughout the weekend, from the first lap of FP1 to the end of the race. That’s the most important thing. If we can match that pace and score more points next week, it would be a good step forward.” The Team Principal is already looking towards Singapore: “The story could be different, as the type of corners will be similar but with much more downforce. […] After Singapore, we’ll have a break before Austin. We’ll have time to discuss things, but first, I want a good result in Singapore, as we did last year. We’re in a good moment, and we need to keep this up to score more points than we did today.” – he added at the end of the race which was held at the 6.003-kilometre Baku City Circuit.
Ferrari is currently 51 points behind McLaren in the Constructors’ standings, but the French manager is not giving up: “There will be ups and downs until the end of the season. What matters is winning when you’re in a good position, but also collecting points when you’re not. We failed to do this in Canada, England, and Austria, which is probably costing us a lot. But now, we’re back in form and able to fight for pole and victory every weekend. There are still 300 points up for grabs. Everything is possible, and it will be a long fight. Today things didn’t go our way, but better weekends are ahead.” – the French manager concluded.
