Charles Leclerc’s victory at Silverstone represented far more than just another win for Ferrari. For team principal Frédéric Vasseur, it confirmed a development path that has been taking shape for some time, built through continuous improvements and steady work on the SF-26.
Speaking after the race, the Ferrari boss reflected on the British Grand Prix weekend, discussing Leclerc’s return to form, Lewis Hamilton’s performance, the championship battle and Ferrari’s expectations ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps.
As Fred Vasseur has repeatedly acknowledged, Ferrari is still giving away performance because of its power unit, despite recent comments from Mercedes boss Toto Wolff. In his view, the Silverstone result was the product of many small improvements coming together rather than a single revolutionary breakthrough.
“We still have a performance deficit with the engine, and we certainly haven’t transformed the car overnight. On a circuit like Silverstone, engine performance matters much more than somewhere like Monaco, so we weren’t especially optimistic going into the weekend. But I think that pushed us to search for every last hundredth of a second. We made one small step after another throughout the weekend, and today we had genuinely competitive pace.”
Leclerc has regained his confidence
Vasseur once again defended Charles Leclerc, explaining that the team had never been concerned about the Monegasque driver’s level of performance.
“I wasn’t aligned with many of the analyses that were made over the last few weeks. If you look at the data, Charles was on the front row in Austria and he was consistently up there. From our point of view, the indicators were never negative.”
According to the Ferrari team principal, the real issue was simply the lack of results: “The difficult part for him was seeing that the points and the results weren’t coming. Between the reliability problem in Barcelona and everything that happened afterwards, he couldn’t put together a complete weekend while the others kept scoring points.”
The French manager said he had never lost confidence in Leclerc: “From a performance point of view, I’ve always been optimistic because the data showed us Charles was always there. I think today’s result is the biggest confidence boost he could possibly have received.”
Part of the Monegasque’s recent difficulties also came from adapting to a car that had evolved through successive upgrades: “Every time we develop the car we also have to adapt the setup. Even the brake system changes we introduced a few races ago forced us to rethink several aspects of the package. But it was never about performance. The pace was already there.”
For Fred Vasseur, the key to victory was Leclerc’s renewed confidence in the SF-26: “He has rediscovered his confidence. Every setup change might not be worth much on the stopwatch, but it can give the driver the confidence needed to push harder. At a circuit like Silverstone that’s fundamental. If you look at the opening twenty laps, Charles was extracting absolutely everything we had.”
Hamilton’s strategy and the late Safety Car decision
Vasseur also defended Ferrari’s strategic decisions with Lewis Hamilton during the closing stages of the race, even though the late Safety Car ultimately cost him a position when the race never resumed.
“People can debate the call, but I believe it was the right decision. If we hadn’t stopped, George Russell would have fitted brand-new Soft tyres while we would have stayed out in front on used Hard tyres, taking a significant risk.”
The Ferrari boss admitted the team had fully expected the race to restart.
“We were a little surprised by the Safety Car and expected the race to resume. People can question the decision, but I would make exactly the same call again.”
According to Fred Vasseur, the Briton would have had a genuine opportunity to improve his finishing position had the race restarted. He also chose not to dwell on Hamilton’s five-second penalty for a false start, although he felt the ruling was rather harsh: “Our sensors don’t show that the car moved. In the video you can barely see the sticker on the tyre moving slightly. It’s not my place to judge whether it was a false start or not. It seems quite severe to base the decision solely on the sensor in a situation like this. I’m not angry, but once again I’d rather not comment on the decisions. I think it’s a bit harsh to call it a mistake. I see a car moving by two millimetres on the grid. Of course it’s the driver’s responsibility, but describing it as an error seems excessive.”
Vasseur also believes Hamilton’s relationship with Ferrari continues to strengthen race after race.
“It’s a process that works both ways. We understand Lewis better, and Lewis understands the team better. We’ve been working on this car for more than a year. There isn’t one single thing that changes everything; it’s one brick added on top of another. Today we’re much more aligned. The car is better than it was last year and we’re improving step by step.”
Championship? “We weren’t champions after Barcelona, and we’re not champions today”
Despite Ferrari’s victory, Vasseur remains firmly grounded.
“After Barcelona everyone said Ferrari was back in the championship fight. I said no. The following week people said we had disappeared, and again I said no. Tomorrow morning I’ll have exactly the same approach. We’ll say we had a very good weekend and then immediately focus on Spa.”
The Frenchman refused to get carried away by the result: “We’re not world champions, and we weren’t hopeless before either. We’re improving one step at a time. I never draw conclusions after one or two races, whether they’re positive or negative. My only focus is on doing a better job.”
When asked about Ferrari’s championship ambitions, Fred Vasseur smiled and replied to the journalists: “That’s your job. It’s not mine.”
Looking ahead to Spa
Attention now turns to the next race at Spa-Francorchamps, where the French manager expects another completely different challenge: “We’re thinking about Spa and trying to put together another good race. If you look at every session this weekend, Mercedes was probably the strongest team most of the time.”
Although Ferrari appeared stronger over long runs, Vasseur believes the overall gap remains small.
“Over a race distance we’re probably a little more effective, partly thanks to our strategy. The Sprint was more complicated. We have to be realistic: Mercedes still has a small advantage in outright performance.”
He also pointed out that Silverstone was a unique case:”This circuit is much more sensitive to engine power than Barcelona, but it was also the first race run in relatively cool temperatures where the limiting factor was the front tyres. The characteristics of the track were completely different, and I think we managed those aspects well.”
Finally, Fred Vasseur delivered a clear message about Ferrari’s approach for the remainder of the season.
“Spa will be a completely different challenge. The weather will change and, like every weekend, we’ll have to start from scratch. There isn’t a magic solution that suddenly gives you five or six tenths in a single race. Performance only comes from putting together lots of small improvements.”
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