Fred Vasseur on Ferrari’s result in Belgian Sprint race: “We paid for traffic in the pit lane”. Fred Vasseur on Ferrari's result in Belgian Sprint .

Bitter Sprint Race
The Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps Sprint race was once again not very satisfying for Scuderia Ferrari. Starting from third and fourth positions on the grid, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc crossed the finish line in fourth and fifth places. Both drivers lost positions, which could have resulted in an even worse outcome without the collision between Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez in the second part of the Sprint race, leading to the Mexican’s retirement from the Sprint event and a five-second penalty for the seven-time champion, dropping him from fourth to seventh place, behind the Ferrari drivers.

The team principal of Maranello, Frederic Vasseur, had mixed emotions about the outcome of the short Spa-Francorchamps race, highlighting the gain of points in the Constructors’ standings compared to Mercedes and Aston Martin. The major issue on this Saturday was the management of chaos in the pit lane: both Scuderia drivers lost time during the switch from wet to intermediate tires due to mechanic errors and heavy traffic in the pit lane, hindering their quick restart from the pit box.

Fred Vasseur’s analysis
“With Carlos, we were close to the entrance of the pit lane, and it was challenging to get him back on track quickly,” – the Frenchman explained in an interview for Sky Sport F1. “We followed the procedure, but we lost some positions during that phase. With Charles, we had the Mercedes coming in, and again, we lost positions due to the traffic in the pit lane. Once the positions on the track stabilized, it became difficult to overtake. Now we need to focus on tomorrow: today we scored more points than Mercedes and Aston Martin, and that’s important. We have a good opportunity with our starting positions.”

Thanks to the penalty imposed on Max Verstappen for the gearbox replacement, the two SF-23 cars will start from the first (Charles Leclerc) and fourth (Carlos Sainz) positions.

“Tomorrow’s forecast leans towards dry conditions,” Fred Vasseur added, directing his focus directly on the ‘long’ GP, “but today’s race was too chaotic, and we can’t draw any conclusions from it. All the drivers struggled with tire overheating. The track was not far from dry conditions, but the race was too short to switch back to slicks.” Despite Charles Leclerc’s pole position, the team principal’s attention is not on the victory.

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Max Verstappen, starting from the sixth position, seems unbeatable: “I don’t want to focus on Max,” Fred Vasseur clarified, “but on ourselves to do the best job possible. Throughout the weekend, in every condition, our pace has been good. We managed to finish second yesterday and fight for pole today, both in dry and wet conditions. We just need to focus on ourselves, make a good strategy, have a good pace, start well, and do a proper job. Then we will achieve the result we deserve. As for Charles Leclerc, he is calm, but we have no announcements to make regarding his contract renewal,” he concluded, hinting at the transfer market.