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Critics ignoring Ferrari's strong pace - Vasseur
Ferrari’s pace and performance potential is being overlooked and critics are being “a bit harsh” on the team after its result in the Monaco Grand Prix, according to Fred Vasseur.
Charles Leclerc qualified third but a team communication error led to a grid penalty for impeding Lando Norris that demoted him to sixth, with Carlos Sainz moving up to fourth as a result. In the race, both drivers lost two positions each but Vasseur – who also defended the team’s strategic choices – believes the performance level is close to the likes of Red Bull and doesn’t get acknowledged enough.
“I don’t know if you are tough like this with Mercedes when they are behind us in qualifying,” Vasseur said when asked if he’s concerned at appearing to be fourth or fifth quickest in races. “At the end of the day we were P3 in qualifying, less than one-tenth off the pole position, two-hundreths off the front row. I don’t think it was a disaster.
“I think we made some mistakes throughout the weekend, team and driver together, but to say the pace was not there in Monaco, I think it’s a bit harsh for us. We were in a position to fight for the pole position and starting from the pole I think the win was possible.
“The drivers came to Monaco with a lot of expectations, and the team also. If we missed something... we made some mistakes through the weekend, clearly the main one was the call on Charles for Norris – and this is my fault and I accept my fault – but to say we were not in the pace, it’s a bit harsh.
“To be able to fight for pole position, for me it is a satisfaction. Even if you finish P3... Charles was very upset with P3 because he felt we were not far away from the pole. But you can’t say that we are not on the pace this weekend.”
Pushed on race performances being inconsistent, Vasseur says only Miami can be criticized as Monaco did not provide Ferrari with a chance to show if it has made any progress ahead of an upgrade that will be introduced in Spain.
“You can say the race was difficult in Miami. But the race (on Sunday) was not a matter of pace. We were stuck behind (Esteban) Ocon and the frustration of Carlos was he wanted to show the pace of the car but you can’t say we had no pace during the race. The circumstances and the race scenario is the reason we did not show any pace. But nobody can say we were not on the pace.
“The feeling from Carlos – Ocon was also managing – was that we were far away from the potential of the car. I’m OK with you on the fact that the race in Miami we didn’t show good pace. But qualifying in Miami, we were fighting for pole position. The qualifying of Monaco, we are fighting for pole position. The race of Monaco I would say nobody knows.
“I think next week we will have a better view on the race pace. I hope that Barcelona is more relevant … but we will have a better view on the situation. But this weekend in terms of true performance (was acceptable), not in term of results, because in term of true results we are far away from the expectations, but we are away from the expectations for different reasons – the penalty on Charles on Saturday, and the fact that Carlos went straight on one time and he lost two or three positions at that stage.”
However, Vasseur does concede that Ferrari has to work on a specific area of its race performance that has been focused on in recent weeks.
“Now it’s true that so far – and I don’t want to speak about Monaco because I think that Monaco is not representative of the situation – but it’s true that so far we were struggling on the long stints for consistency, from lap-to-lap or corner-to-corner, and it was difficult for the drivers to find the limit and it’s in this area that we are working today to develop the car.
“It could come from the suspension or from the aero for different reasons, but it’s a topic today and we are on it.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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