Frederic Vasseur comments on Ferrari’s sprint qualifying with Leclerc sixth and Hamilton seventh.
Another qualifying session—albeit a sprint one—proves disappointing for Ferrari, which finished sixth and seventh, with Leclerc just under two-tenths ahead of Hamilton. The two Ferraris struggled with balance issues and tire overheating. The Monegasque driver ended the session three-tenths off the top spot, while Hamilton, showing improvement compared to previous qualifying sessions, was half a second behind the leader.
Speaking to Sky Sport Italia after sprint qualifying, Vasseur commented on Ferrari’s performance. He began by congratulating Antonelli: Antonelli’s lap was truly exceptional—he put three tenths on Russell and kept him behind for the entire session. He really deserves a big round of applause. That said, we’re not too far from the leading pack, but we keep struggling to make the most of our potential.”.
The Frenchman went on: “We pay for every small mistake. We can’t put it all together—something goes wrong in the lap, the tires overheat, and we immediately lose those crucial tenths. It’s a matter of balance and setup, especially in the slow corners, where we suffer the most . We’re fine in the first sector, and the car responds well in the third, too. But we lose time in the sequence of low-speed corners. It’s a subtle issue, but in these conditions it becomes critical.” .
And finally, on Charles Leclerc: “Nothing happened. When everyone exits the pit lane at the same time, it’s normal to end up at the back of the group, but everything was under control.”.