After the Austrian GP, Fred Vasseur sat down and spoke to journalists about Ferrari’s very tricky weekend. The Italian outfit is going through a difficult patch since Leclerc took victory in Monaco. Although Ferrari took an unexpected podium with Sainz, the SF-24 lacked raw pace in Spielberg. It was also a very tough weekend for Charles Leclerc. That said, Fred Vasseur believes a cleaner weekend for the Monegasue could have changed the script.
FRED VASSEUR: A DIFFERENT STORY IF LECLERC FINISHED HIS QUALIFYING LAP
Despite a tough three days in Austria, Fred Vasseur describes himself as “strangely optimistic.” The SF-24 was once again the fourth-fastest team last weekend. Carlos Sainz himself admitted that George Russell was just over a tenth faster.
Sainz and Leclerc admitted post-race that Mercedes have temporarily overtaken Ferrari in the development race.
However, Vasseur wants to calm the waters:
“Problems is a bit of a harsh word. If yesterday we had closed the lap in Qualifying with Charles, we would perhaps have been on the front row. And the comments [from the drivers] today were of an improved Ferrari, less than a tenth from Red Bull perhaps.
“At the end of turn 4, we had more than a tenth of an advantage over Norris. However, I also know that the lap must be closed.”
Vasseur was pragmatic in his responses, emphasising areas for improvement whilst also showing Ferrari’s more encouraging aspects of the weekend.
With worries emerging after a difficult weekend for Ferrari, the French team principal reiterated his confidence in Maranello’s development.
“No, the direction is the right one. It can’t be a positive or negative weekend that decides whether a direction is right. I also said this after the victory in Monaco. There are weekends where we were faster than Max, as fast as Max or slower than him.
“Today was one of these weekends, but we have already made a leap forward compared to Friday.”
Typically, Ferrari begins race weekends with a good baseline set-up. However, with the team still learning about their new upgrades, they struggled with bouncing a lot in Austria.
The two drivers then went on quite different setups on Saturday, working in particular to try and eliminate bouncing:
“With the setup, we made a positive step forward. Silverstone comes at the right time because having two free practice sessions to optimize the car will definitely be a help for us,” said Vasseur.
The 56-year-old believes there is a lot more to unlock from the latest version of the SF-24.
“It takes 2-3 Grands Prix to extract the potential. We have also seen it with other cars. Furthermore, the [upgrade] packages are no longer huge in terms of earnings.
“So it is also possible that without the right fine-tuning at the beginning [in terms of set-up], you could even lose something.”
Speaking more specifically about the performances of the two drivers, Fred Vasseur reflected on Carlos Sainz’s result:
“We thought we had a tyre advantage over Russell at the end. But then we had problems with traffic, with lapped people who however had rubber fresh and was faster than us, and that didn’t help us.”
Obviously, Charles Leclerc suffered from a nightmare scenario on race day. However, the French team principal does not want to reflect on this:
“Charles didn’t take too many risks. Maybe you don’t push and finish P3 and not P2, which is still better than P6, but with ifs and buts, you get nowhere.
“On the Charles side, we can be frustrated because there was potential to do better, but we will try next time.”
Looking ahead, and therefore to the next round of Silverstone and the progress made by the others, Vasseur remains confident:
“Remember that developments are not just those declared or seen. Those are aerodynamic developments, but it doesn’t mean that those who don’t declare anything won’t develop.
“I’m strangely optimistic, despite the performance which sees us a little far from Max. I have the feeling that we can achieve more!”
