Frederic Vasseur commented on Ferrari’s race at Suzuka, with Charles Leclerc finishing in fourth place and Lewis Hamilton in seventh.
It was a rather uneventful Japanese Grand Prix for Ferrari, as they were never in the fight for the victory or for a podium finish. At Suzuka, after a race that offered few sparks but plenty of tension toward the end, Leclerc finished in fourth place, running a rather ordinary race and never being in contention for the top three. It was almost a solo race for the Monegasque driver, who matched his result from last season’s Japanese GP.
Lewis Hamilton didn’t fare any better. Starting on hard tires, unlike all the other drivers, he couldn’t go beyond seventh place after overtaking Hadjar in the opening laps. Frederic Vasseur, interviewed by Sky Sport Italia, commented on the two Ferrari drivers’ GP with these words: “Our current situation is a gap of two, three tenths per lap, both in qualifying and the race. We can always do more, but we need to start from this baseline to continue working. The direction is set.”
The Frenchman added: “The difference between the medium and hard tires wasn’t significant. The degradation was similar, as was the performance. Lewis did very well with the hard tires, but with the medium tires in the final stages, he couldn’t make the difference. There weren’t any obvious margins.” “.
Next week, they return to the track for the Bahrain Grand Prix, where Ferrari is expected to bring their first set of updates, including the new floor. Regarding this, Vasseur said: “The updates will arrive soon, but first, we need to solve the balance issues that have hurt us in the recent races. Only when we fully exploit the current package will it make sense to introduce new upgrades.”
