Frederic Vasseur spoke to the media ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix – here’s what he had to say ahead of the fifth round of the season.
Ferrari left Bahrain with a few more certainties compared to the first three races of the season. The second stint on medium tyres, with a fuel load at around 65% of the total, allowed both Leclerc and Hamilton’s Ferraris to recover positions, showing a very strong race pace. The Safety Car, and the subsequent decision to switch to hard tyres, ended up nullifying their chances of securing their first podium of the season — but progress, albeit small, has been made.
This was confirmed by Vasseur himself, who spoke to the press ahead of the Saudi round. These were his words: “The first triple-header of the season ends in Saudi Arabia, on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, which has very different characteristics in both layout and asphalt compared to Bahrain, where we raced less than a week ago. In Sakhir, we made small steps forward in terms of competitiveness, both thanks to improved car performance and a solid team effort in qualifying and the race.”
The French team principal then added: “Over the past few days in Maranello, we’ve continued to work hard on data analysis and we want to approach the Jeddah race with the same objective. We want to stay focused on ourselves, because that’s the best way to extract the most from our current package and keep making progress in order to close the gap to the teams ahead of us in the standings.”
Tyre degradation at the Saudi track is lower than what was seen in Bahrain and Suzuka, which is why a one-stop strategy (as was the case last season) seems to be the most suitable. Pirelli will bring a softer compound, which could open up interesting and unprecedented scenarios, both in terms of car setup and strategic choices.
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari Gallery
