Frederic Vasseur commented on the recent Bahrain Grand Prix, a race in which Ferrari seemed to make some progress.
Formula 1 is ready to return to the track for the fifth round of the season, the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Circus arrives in Jeddah after witnessing an impressive show of strength from McLaren, with Piastri dominating both Saturday and Sunday, securing pole position and a convincing win ahead of the competition. Ferrari, with its first updates, appeared more competitive compared to the opening rounds, but there is still a lot of work to be done, and much will depend on tire management.
That’s what Vasseur himself said in an interview with Sky Sport, where he discussed the updates introduced in Bahrain and how much they could help Ferrari in this early part of the season. These were the Frenchman’s words: “McLaren is ahead, overall they are three tenths faster than us. We’re fighting with Mercedes and Red Bull, and who comes out on top can change from track to track. Leclerc was quick but got stuck behind Russell. Hamilton was just as fast when he had clean air: he had a good race today, but when you start from the back, there’s not much you can do. The upgrades worked, but we have to manage expectations because they’re only worth a few tenths. The key to performance is tire management.”
Vasseur then added: “During the Safety Car, Mercedes were bold, just like Russell said. Probably, toward the end of the race, the lower temperatures and the increased rubber on the track helped him. Our strategy was medium-medium, then soft or hard. I don’t know how aggressive that was, but we preferred to remain flexible based on degradation. Unfortunately, the Safety Car didn’t help us—it came just as we were the fastest on track. Given our situation, we could have extended the stint and switched to softs.”
