Fred Vasseur: “We’re lacking something in the slow corners, but the balance is good” | Japan GP. Fred Vasseur takes stock of the first day on track at Suzuka.

On a Friday dominated by red flags, Ferrari got its first reassuring feedback at the Suzuka circuit, host of the Japanese Grand Prix.

On a track where bumps and ride heights are very important, the Ferrari cars seemed to get their weekend off to a good start today, with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc showing some promising signs.

However, something still feels fleeting, elusive. The cars — especially in the second free practice session — didn’t get many laps in due to accidents, off-track excursions, and a grass fire.

At the end of Free Practice 2, held in the early hours of the morning in Italy, Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur spoke to Sky Sport F1 about the team’s first day on track.

“It was difficult to put a lap together, there was a lot of traffic and other things. Charles and Lewis were happy with the balance, so I don’t think we’re too far off this afternoon. It’ll probably be the same tomorrow. With high-speed corners, it’s really hard to recover in the middle of traffic. If we’re missing something, we saw it in Turns 9 and 11, the low-speed ones. It’s true that Free Practice 2 wasn’t very productive, we couldn’t do much.”

Hamilton really loves this track. Do you think tomorrow he could make the difference compared to Charles?
“Honestly, looking at the pace this morning, Lewis seemed very strong. But you can’t draw firm conclusions after just a few laps. Plus, with the conditions in FP2, between traffic and other issues, it’s tough. For sure, we seem close. Maybe McLaren has a slight edge over the others, but we’re very close to Red Bull and Mercedes. It’ll come down to putting everything together tomorrow, also keeping an eye on Sunday’s race where we’re expecting some rain.”

We’ve seen there’s wind… How much does that affect these cars at this track, especially in the final part of the straight?
“The most important thing is that tomorrow the wind will shift 180°. That means the car’s balance will completely change, so we’ll have a tailwind in the high-speed section and a headwind on the straight. So, it’ll be the opposite of what we saw today, and very difficult for the drivers to manage. It’ll be the same for everyone, but we’ll need to be ready for tomorrow.”