Frederic Vasseur shared his thoughts after the Imola Grand Prix: “Safety Cars weren’t great for Charles, but we had to make the most of it”
A bittersweet day for Ferrari — much better than yesterday’s nightmare: in the end, Imola delivered a solid race result for the Scuderia, the third-fastest team on Sunday, and nearly second if we factor in Tsunoda’s performance for Red Bull.
Frederic Vasseur’s words
E Fred Vasseur, team principal della Ferrari, ha parlato così ai microfoni di Sky Sport F1: «Oggi è stata una Ferrari completamente diversa rispetto a ieri. È stato come vedere un altro sport. Forse c’è stata un po’ di sfortuna per Charles, mentre Lewis ha saputo capitalizzare ogni opportunità. Non sappiamo esattamente cosa sia cambiato da ieri a oggi, perché il quadro tecnico era completamente diverso. Ma è una situazione che abbiamo già vissuto a Miami e a Jeddah.»
“In Jeddah, for instance, we were stronger in the race than in qualifying, where we were two or three tenths behind Max. The same thing happened here: we’re lacking something in qualifying. We need to work on that because we’re not doing anything magical in the race, but we manage to perform well thanks to overall good management.”
On the second Safety Car: “It’s always hard to predict how many laps are needed to recover a car. At that point there were 14 laps to go, and after 3 or 4 laps the track was clear again. It was really on the edge to go for the soft tyre, and it was impossible to predict how long the recovery would take. Thirteen laps would have been too many, but you can’t know in advance if it’ll take 2, 4, or 6 laps.”
“After Saturday, maybe it was better not to take risks and keep the positions. We didn’t freeze them on purpose, but clearly, we wanted to avoid trouble. The first Safety Car came a bit early, the second one at a good moment, but the momentum didn’t go in Charles’ favour. Still, we managed to get the most out of the situation.”
Question from Carlo Vanzini: “Yesterday was a nightmare. What kind of face will you have tomorrow or Tuesday during the team debrief?”
“The hardest part of my job is doing analysis. We’re not champions, we’re not winning, and we’re not where we want to be. We need to balance what’s working and what’s not. The positives today were our race pace, the strategy, and the execution — everything worked well. But the negative side is clearly qualifying. That was evident in Miami and Jeddah too, and it’s something we must improve, especially with Monaco coming up where Saturday is key.”
Question from Davide Camicioli: “You and Charles apologized to the fans. What message do you want to send today?”
“The message is that we’re working to improve. Things will be different in Monaco — tyre management will be crucial. Today we showed team spirit, even in the swap between the two cars. The strategy was solid, the pit stops perfect. We can be satisfied with today’s work, even though there’s still work to do on Saturdays.”
Question from Ivan Capelli: “Charles gave the position back to Albon to avoid a penalty. Were you really afraid of receiving one?”
“Yes. We were under investigation and had a bad feeling about it. At that point, there were 4 or 5 cars within five seconds, so a penalty could’ve dropped Charles down to P10. That’s why we immediately decided to give the position back” Vasseur concluded. , he concluded.
Photo: Scuderia Ferrari HP