Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur after the end of the Canadian GP
The face of Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur at the end of the race in Montreal could not have reflected more clearly the difficulties of recent days. On one hand, there were the clashes with journalists, which inevitably left a trail of tension within the Maranello garage. On the other, while Mercedes, Red Bull, and McLaren fought wheel-to-wheel for the top five positions, the two Ferraris were not invited to the party that lit up the end of the Canadian GP. And so, despite fifth and sixth places—results that are far from disastrous and still allow the Prancing Horse to collect a decent haul of points in the Constructors’ standings—the team principal this time found no reason to smile or joke, unlike what he often managed to do even on less positive days in his three years at Maranello.
Too many errors in Montreal
“The one-stop strategy requested by Charles Leclerc? I don’t think it was the solution,” explained Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur to Sky. “If you look at the top five, they all made two stops. Sure, maybe it could’ve worked, but it wasn’t even certain given the medium tyres’ lifespan. But I don’t think that’s the main issue of the weekend… The conclusion we have to draw is that we made too many mistakes, we had too many problems—from Free Practice 1 with only one car, to the error in qualifying, and then the problem in the race for Lewis. It was too much for a single weekend. In qualifying we set the fastest time in the first sector, then aborted the lap. Our pace isn’t far off, the problem is when we fail to put everything together, because then you end up in traffic and lose time in the race. But honestly, we don’t need to change everything.”
Fred Vasseur and updates to the Ferrari SF-25
There was also a not-so-subtle response to Lewis Hamilton, who has repeatedly called for updates to the SF-25: “They’re coming soon, but I also don’t think technical updates are the main issue, because when you set the fastest time in the first sector, it doesn’t mean the car isn’t working or that we need upgrades. I don’t think the others are bringing updates every weekend, and just because we don’t declare them doesn’t mean we’re not bringing parts. Some don’t need to be declared… The most important thing is to focus on ourselves and execute a clean weekend. And that’s not what we did this time.”
The row with journalists
Fred Vasseur also returned to the hot topic of his accusations against journalists during Friday’s press conference: “I don’t want to have to repeat what I said on Thursday or Friday, but I don’t think the atmosphere around the team is helping our performance. We’re not under pressure, but there is tension. When you’re in a tight battle and in such conditions, you can’t give your best. The drivers make more mistakes and so do we. We need calm and clarity if we want to perform at our best. That’s my goal, but it’s not all in my hands.” – the French manager pointed out.
The final remark was on his relationship with Ferrari management, who haven’t publicly defended the team principal since Le Mans: “Is the company backing me? Yes, that’s not an issue. The most important thing is for everyone to be united and pushing in the same direction. But even more than that, we need peace of mind. I don’t want to fight with everyone, internally or externally. The most important thing is to work as a team. We know we won’t do the best job in the world every weekend. If we look at Mercedes, they’ve struggled massively in recent weekends, but it’s not like they launched a revolution. They kept working, developing, pushing, and today they succeeded. I think that’s a good example for us. We’re second in the championship (actually third, as Mercedes has moved ahead again – ed.) and it’s not the end of the world, it’s not a drama. We just need to keep doing our job and doing it properly. Sometimes we lose a bit of focus,” concluded Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.
