Mixed fortunes for Scuderia Ferrari at Spa-Francorchamps
The opening sessions of the Belgian Grand Prix weekend did not deliver an ideal start for Scuderia Ferrari. During the Sprint Qualifying session at the historic Spa-Francorchamps circuit, the Italian team showed two very different performances between its drivers. On one side, Lewis Hamilton encountered difficulties, spinning off and being eliminated as early as SQ1. On the other, Charles Leclerc delivered a much more competitive performance, securing the fourth fastest time of the session. As a result, the Monegasque driver will line up on the second row of the grid for the Sprint race, starting just behind the front-row duo of Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen, and alongside the second McLaren driven by Lando Norris.
Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur shared his thoughts on the outcome of the session during an interview with Sky Sport F1, stating that Charles Leclerc had managed to put together a strong lap. According to Vasseur, the team faced some struggles at the beginning of the lap, but eventually managed to benefit from the slipstream of Max Verstappen. He also noted that Verstappen appeared to be running a car setup that was more aggressive and tailored for qualifying performance rather than for the race itself.
Fred Vasseur went on to highlight that Oscar Piastri had been performing at an extremely high level since the start of the weekend, managing to outpace his McLaren teammate Lando Norris by as much as six tenths of a second. The Frenchman commented that Piastri seemed to be on “another planet” in terms of pace, but insisted that Ferrari must remain focused on its own development path. He stressed that there is still room for improvement and that the team had completed only a limited number of laps with its updated technical package, which includes the newly introduced rear suspension system. As such, Vasseur underlined the importance of continuing to study and understand the car’s behavior in order to further enhance its performance, while reaffirming that Ferrari is on the right path.
Lewis Hamilton’s spin and the rear suspension upgrade
Turning attention to Lewis Hamilton’s troubled Sprint Qualifying session, Frédéric Vasseur pointed out that the British driver’s elimination came not only as a result of his final spin, but also due to an earlier failed attempt. During that earlier run, Vasseur believes Hamilton was distracted by a moment involving Yuki Tsunoda, who had kicked up gravel onto the track surface. Speaking to the French broadcaster Canal+, Fred Vasseur explained that onboard footage clearly showed a large cloud of dust, suggesting that Hamilton was momentarily distracted by the incident involving the Japanese driver. As for the final error that led to Hamilton spinning out, Fred Vasseur attributed it to excessive aggressiveness under braking.
Speaking once again to Sky Italia, the Ferrari team principal also offered his first assessment of the new rear suspension system introduced on the SF-25 this weekend. He noted that the data gathered so far was in line with the team’s expectations, which he described as a positive sign. However, Fred Vasseur cautioned that nearly all rival teams had brought upgrades to Spa as well. He explained that even if a team makes progress and gains two or three tenths of a second per lap, that does not automatically translate into a clear advantage over the competition—because other teams are improving too. As a result, the net performance gain may not be as visible in the classification. Nonetheless, the development direction appears promising, and the team will continue to evaluate and optimize the upgraded components in the sessions ahead.
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