Another Sunday full of doubts. Ferrari finished the Bahrain GP in fourth and fifth positions, with a strategy that sparked discussion and was later explained by Fred Vasseur after the race.
Ferrari was the only team not to use the soft tyre, opting instead for a double medium and one hard, choices that left fans puzzled. However, after struggling in the early laps due to tyre compound differences, the SF-25 proved to be the fastest car on track during the middle phase of the race.
Things changed after the Safety Car, which allowed everyone to pit for their final stop — at that point, Ferrari chose the hard tyre instead of a used soft. This decision led Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton to struggle in comparison with drivers who had medium tyres.
Fred Vasseur explains the reasoning behind the choices
At the end of the fourth race of the year, the Ferrari team principal commented on what happened at Sakhir. “He lost the transponder so we had neither the data nor GPS. I think it was his mistake but I don’t think he’ll be penalised because the advantage was really minimal,” Fred Vasseur said, referring to what happened with George Russell.
Regarding strategy, the team principal explained the decisions made. “Mercedes was very aggressive, and Russell said so too. Today we were unlucky with the DRS and the Safety Car. Without the Safety Car we could have extended the stint and fitted softs at the end. But at that point, with more than twenty laps to go, it would’ve been risky.”
“We had decided on a medium-medium strategy and then we would have decided from there. Comparing strategies at the end of the race is different because there are always race events you can’t predict. Mercedes took a gamble, and it paid off.”
“I don’t know if we got the most out of it. We extended the first stint to have an advantage at the end. Then the Safety Car reset everything and didn’t allow us to use that.”
“We are where we are. It’s clear that McLaren is ahead of everyone, but in some conditions we’re right there. On average, they have a two to three-tenth advantage. We’re fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull, but I think the situation can change race by race. Charles was blocked by Russell while Lewis had clean air and was able to recover. I understand his frustration since he was on par with Charles up to Q2. He had a good race today, but starting from tenth makes it hard,” Fred Vasseur added.
In conclusion, Ferrari’s team principal spoke about what the new floor upgrade might bring next weekend. “We need to temper expectations about the new floor. We’re talking about just a few hundredths. Jeddah is a low-degradation track — we saw that last year too. Here it was a management race; next week will be different.”
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