Fred Vasseur identifies Ferrari’s next target after “stronger than Mercedes” Zandvoort pace
The Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix turned out to be a race in which Ferrari didn’t manage to convert its strong race pace into the best possible outcome – which, according to team principal Fred Vasseur, was down to the team experiencing a difficult qualifying and not executing the race perfectly.
With Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc finishing right behind George Russell, Vasseur believes Ferrari’s pace at Zandvoort was better than Mercedes’ – but the race became difficult because neither driver managed better than the third row in qualifying, while the team also failed to use all the possible opportunities to gain more positions in the race.
“I think the pace was strong, I think at least stronger than Mercedes,” the Frenchman told Sky Sports, “but it is like it is, that we have to now have a deep look on what we did and what we did wrong.”
A contributing factor was Charles Leclerc’s slow getaway at the second start, where he lost a position to Oscar Piastri, as the Australian overtook the Ferrari around the outside at Turn 1, despite being on hard tyres versus Leclerc’s softs.
Frederic Vasseur, Ferrari
Photo by: Michael Potts / LAT Images via Getty Images
Later on, Ferrari had a slow stop for the Monegasque and also missed an opportunity to gain a position on Russell after Leclerc cleared Piastri. As Vasseur pointed out, the car’s pace was “not an issue” for Ferrari in the Netherlands – but its weekend became difficult as it couldn’t extract its performance in Saturday’s qualifying.
“I think the pace this weekend was good, at least, in both races,” he noted, speaking to the media after the race. “If we missed something this weekend it’s more the quali first. Not in the sprint quali, but in the [main] quali, we had a poor preparation with an out-lap and so on.
“And the execution [in the race] was not that good, because we had a very strong start in the first start, and in the second start we lost position with soft compared to some hard competitors, and this is unexpected. And then we had a poor pitstop and then it was difficult. But the pace itself was decent, it’s not an issue at all.”
In Friday’s qualifying for the sprint race, Leclerc took third, just 0.055s off Russell’s best time – but Hamilton ended up sixth, 0.624s off pole. On Saturday, both Ferrari drivers struggled to put temperature into the tyres, which Hamilton said was the main factor in them ending up fifth and sixth in the session. That was despite Ferrari opting for an extra preparation lap compared to its main rivals in Q3.
“I think the tyres were the biggest culprit today, just really struggling to get the tyres to work,” he commented after qualifying. “They’re not really in in the first sector, that’s where we lost most of our time, and then they get better through the lap. Just do an out-lap and a prep lap, and the tyres are still not ready for Turn 1, it’s just nuts.”
Therefore, when asked whether Ferrari should upgrade the car or wait until it introduces the new version of its power unit in order to improve in qualifying, Vasseur said the team needs to better understand how to prepare the tyres for flying laps – as, he noted, qualifying hasn’t always been a weakness for Ferrari this year.
Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari, Lando Norris, McLaren
Photo by: Andy Hone/ LAT Images via Getty Images
“For sure, it’s always better to have a better aero, better suspension, better engine, it’s always helping,” Vasseur said. “But I think if we miss something in quali… but it was not true all the season. We had some races like Spielberg where we did a better job in quali than in the race. We were in the first row, we were second and third and we struggled a bit more in the race.
“The issue is that in quali, it’s a lot about the out-lap preparation, tyre management. But it’s a different approach of the tyre management in quali than in the race. You can be good on one side and not on the other one, from one weekend to the other. This weekend, I think we had a decent approach for the sprint quali, a bit more difficult [on Saturday] with cold conditions. And it’s so tight that on the sprint quali you have four cars in six-hundredths of seconds.
“You saw Lewis on the first day. He had to slow down a little bit after Turn 10 [on his outlap], because he had two or three cars in front of him and he lost [time in] Turn 1. It cost him two or three tenths and in this case you are losing four positions and it’s becoming a poor quali. It’s true for us, but it’s true for everybody, that you have to put a lot of effort in the preparation of each lap.
“If we have to learn something from the weekend, it’s not about the pure potential. It’s more about execution these two days. We were able to be there in terms of performance at some stages of the weekend, but we have to be there always.”
After Zandvoort, Ferrari sits second in the standings, 87 points behind Mercedes and with a fast-approaching McLaren behind. The Woking team has won the last two races with Lando Norris and closed the gap to Ferrari to 75 points ahead of the Italian Grand Prix.
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