F1 | Vasseur: “Max was exceptional, but we were close to McLaren. We missed the last tenth”
Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur tried to provide a positive summary of Monza, where the Scuderia finished fourth and sixth. He emphasized that this was the weekend where Ferrari came closest to McLaren in terms of pace, and that they were missing just the last tenth of a second to aim for something more at the end of the race.
A fourth and sixth place cannot leave Ferrari smiling in Monza, especially considering that the race was not won by the previously unbeatable McLaren, a dominant force this season, but by Max Verstappen in the Red Bull, who completely dominated the Grand Prix, leaving no room for the competition.
There were high expectations in the Ferrari garage for the home race, fueled by the performance of the SF-25, which on multiple occasions demonstrated the ability to use aerodynamic efficiency as a weapon to compete with rivals. However, at the “Temple of Speed,” this advantage was not enough, and Ferrari ended up as the third force, unable to challenge the leaders except in the very early laps.
Charles Leclerc gave his maximum in the opening laps, driving aggressively to keep Oscar Piastri behind. However, this attacking approach had a cost: in the following laps, the Monegasque suffered from rear tire overheating, which compromised performance during a crucial part of their optimal window.
After losing position to the Australian McLaren driver, Leclerc briefly came under pressure from George Russell. However, once his tires recovered, aided by the low degradation here at Monza, he was able to pull away again, securing fourth place, although 25 seconds behind Max Verstappen despite a nearly identical strategy.
“We saw a great battle from Charles and also from Lewis at the start, who climbed back after his penalty. We fought with Piastri in that phase, and it went well, but we probably used up a lot of tire life in the opening laps and then suffered a bit in the following laps,” Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur told Sky Sport F1.
“Then the pace returned, and we were able to extend the stint, but we probably paid the price for that early battle,” Fred Vasseur added, underlining how much the initial duel affected overall race time, even though Ferrari was still the third force on track, without the pace to seriously challenge the leaders.
As Leclerc himself explained at the end of the race, from that moment on his race offered few highlights: he found himself in a stable position, with a comfortable margin over George Russell but too far from Oscar Piastri to pose a threat.
At the time of his pit stop, which came after around thirty laps, the Ferrari driver was just under seven seconds behind the Australian McLaren driver, who in turn had a gap of about six seconds from his teammate. With the situation under control, Ferrari chose not to take risks, and Leclerc secured fourth place.
Ferrari arrived in Monza with the same rear wing used last season, alongside a second, even lower-downforce configuration achieved through a partially cut DRS flap. In the first free practice session, Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton conducted a direct comparison, after which Ferrari engineers opted for the lower-downforce solution, aiming to maximize straight-line speed.
This choice reflected the general trend among many teams, and particularly Ferrari, which relied on aerodynamic efficiency on the straights as the only real tool to try to pressure rivals. However, this was not enough. “Tomorrow we will review the whole weekend from the start and understand if we could have done something better or not. In the end, I think today, if we did not win, it wasn’t because of that,” Fred Vasseur added.
Even though the weekend ended without the podium so eagerly hoped for to celebrate with the passionate fans, the Team Principal chose to interpret the weekend positively. He highlighted that, in a direct comparison with McLaren, this was one of Ferrari’s most competitive weekends of the season.
“If we focus on McLaren, overall it was one of the best weekends of the season because we were just five or six seconds off between them. What was exceptional was Max with Red Bull. But first of all Max, because the other Red Bull was far behind,” said Fred Vasseur. “Overall, in terms of pure performance, it wasn’t a bad weekend. But we struggled to put everything together at the end for that last tenth of a second.”
Charles Leclerc finished the race just four seconds behind Piastri, a gap strongly influenced by the McLaren team’s strategy, which extended the stint as long as possible hoping for a Safety Car. Additionally, Monza, like Montreal, is one of the least favorable tracks for the MCL39, which does not excel in pure aerodynamic efficiency.
Fred Vasseur also highlighted Lewis Hamilton’s strong performance, finishing sixth after recovering from tenth on the grid, emphasizing that having the British driver so close to his teammate is positive for the team and development, beyond the points scored for the Constructors’ Championship.
“Lewis recovered well, he did a great job starting from tenth. It’s not easy to overtake in Monza because of the low downforce, so DRS has limited effect, but starting from tenth he did an excellent job. It’s good to have both cars there, they help us in terms of development and weekend analysis, and that is positive for the team,” Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur concluded at the end of the Italian Grand Prix.
Leave a Reply