Once again, Ferrari missed the podium in Las Vegas, allowing Mercedes and Red Bull to extend their lead in the Constructors’ Championship. The best of the two SF-25 cars was clearly Charles Leclerc’s, who started ninth and finished sixth, while Lewis Hamilton recovered to tenth after a race divided into two distinct phases. Frederic Vasseur described the Las Vegas Grand Prix as “a good race” for Scuderia Ferrari, although the chance for a stronger result was lost on Saturday. “Starting P9 and P20, with the first-corner contact between Alonso and Charles, finishing P6 and P10 was a good result. It’s in Qualifying that we were missing something,” he explained.
Vasseur: Leclerc’s struggles and Hamilton’s strategy
Ferrari essentially ran two separate races with its drivers, due to the large difference in grid positions and the distinct setups chosen for each car. “We knew that with the load setup for Charles it was practically impossible to overtake. He made some good moves at the start, but when he came back behind Piastri he got stuck. The extra downforce helped us when others started having tyre problems. We were exiting Turn 12 better and could make overtakes, but once the tyres stabilized, passing became almost impossible.”
Speaking to Sky Sport F1, the Team Principal admitted a setup error on car #16. “We focused on downforce for Qualifying, which didn’t pay off in the race, and we got stuck behind Kimi and Piastri. We must not repeat this mistake in Qatar.” He also justified the timing of the pit stop: “Stopping a lap earlier, we would have been behind Carlos Sainz, so at most we could have stopped one lap sooner, but Piastri was aggressive and stopped even earlier than expected.”
The race was even more challenging for Lewis Hamilton. Despite a strong start, he finished tenth, scoring a single point. “Recovery is always possible, and Kimi showed that. The key for Kimi Antonelli was to stay in clean air for 47 laps. Being just behind someone damages the tyres. With Lewis, we had a good start, but when we put on the medium set, it became a bit more challenging. We were a bit lost in terms of race pace.”
Regarding whether Hamilton could have started on Soft tyres, Fred Vasseur explained: “Hindsight makes it easy to say yes, but I don’t think anyone expected to do so many laps on the Hard tyre. It was completely off-plan. I don’t know if Mercedes started with this idea, or if they decided to stay out seeing the pace, but I think it was mostly that. The plan for everyone was Hard and Medium, and some were even undecided on a two-stop strategy. We had already decided to be aggressive with a single stop, but doing zero stops like Antonelli—that was mega aggressive.”
Focus on the remaining races
With two races left, including a Sprint in Qatar in less than a week, hopes for second in the Constructors’ Championship are fading. Frederic Vasseur, however, is clear on the team’s priorities. “The goal is still to try to win a race. In Brazil, the pace was good; this weekend was tougher because of Qualifying. We need to put everything together and have a clean weekend, and we’ll try again next week.” – the French manager pointed out.
The French manager’s remarks followed comments from Ferrari president John Elkann after the Brazilian Grand Prix. Asked about the episode, Fred Vasseur responded: “He certainly wants to push the team to do better, to motivate the team. We must take it as a positive and supportive message. This weekend was definitely difficult, but it has nothing to do with that. The issues this weekend were more technical in nature.”
By framing John Elkann’s post-Brazil remarks as “positive motivation” rather than public criticism, Fred Vasseur has done exactly what experienced team principals do in Maranello: protect the garage from external noise while subtly reminding everyone – drivers, engineers and even the president himself – that results on track will always be the only answer that truly matters. It’s a classic Ferrari damage-limitation exercise wrapped in diplomacy, but the underlying message is clear: the pressure from the very top is real, and with only two races left in 2025, the Scuderia can’t afford another weekend of “almost” performances.
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