Fred Vasseur’s “frustration” over missed pole in Austin and on managing Ferrari drivers during race. Ferrari: Frederic Vasseur's analysis of the USA GP qualifying.

Ferrari, another step forward
Scuderia Ferrari Spanish driver Carlos Sainz was hoping for a step forward in qualifying after the sprint race, and that’s exactly what happened. Despite the disappointment in the final moments due to the heavy incident caused by George Russell, the Maranello team can still look ahead to tonight’s GP with great optimism, considering the excellent starting position and the strong race pace shown in the 100 km mini-race.

“Without a doubt, you always want to do better than third or fourth place, but we know the characteristics of the car, and we know we were in great shape over long distances,” commented Frederic Vasseur after the qualifying session for the 2024 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix – “Starting from third or fourth place, I believe anything is possible. We hope to have the same race pace we had today.” – the French manager added.

However, Ferrari will need to be smart in avoiding another internal battle between the two drivers at the start of the race, with the intense duel that took place during the sprint preventing Carlos Sainz from challenging Max Verstappen for the win, despite the SF-24 being very competitive over the distance.

“I trust them,” added the Frenchman. “They did a good job in the sprint, and we managed to catch up with Lando Norris. So, I don’t want to freeze positions because, before freezing anything, you need to see how hard they push on the first lap. Let’s focus on ourselves, though. We managed to catch up with Norris at the end of the stint, and now let’s try to do even better.”

Shifting the focus to the race and strategies, a variable not present in the sprint, Fred Vasseur added: “Every time, you need to reset. Everything is also very much tied to the first lap, whether the driver pushes or not. A lot is in their hands; it doesn’t just depend on the car. Today, overall, they did a great job in managing things. They were very consistent until the last lap. That’s positive for the race, but we need to stay alert.” – the Ferrari team boss continued.

Finally, on the missed pole, the French manager admitted: “There’s some frustration because the last lap was very good. We were ahead by 2 or 3 tenths compared to the previous lap, but that probably also applies to Lando and Max. You can’t race with ‘what ifs.’ It’s always an advantage to have two cars in the top four positions because you can play around and make different choices. This weekend isn’t easy, as the track is very uneven in some areas and very smooth in others. It’s not easy to find the right setup in these conditions. If we can stay ahead of Russell and stick with McLaren and Max, we’ll be fine.” – Frederic Vasseur concluded.