Ferrari begins the season on the podium but trails behind Red Bull and Verstappen, as Sainz and Leclerc face challenges.
Ferrari kicked off the year with a podium finish, yet far behind Red Bull, especially Max Verstappen. Carlos Sainz secured third place ahead of Charles Leclerc, who faced a brake issue. Frédéric Vasseur, the Scuderia’s director, evaluates the season’s start.
“There’s both positive and negative. The positive is that we’ve made progress from last year. The downside is we weren’t opportunistic, having encountered a brake problem on Charles’s car that hampered us throughout the race,” the Frenchman states.
“We might have been able to contend with Pérez. Less so with Max, but it’s a positive takeaway. We’ve made significant strides since last year and aim to improve in Jeddah.”
The Frenchman emphasizes the progress made: “There are several areas for improvement, not just the brakes. A year ago, we were a second behind Red Bull, now it’s down to five or six tenths. It’s not satisfying, but it’s a solid foundation to start from.”
Vasseur praises Leclerc, whose left and right brakes showed up to a 100-degree difference: “His issues lasted for 20 laps, then vanished, allowing him to make a remarkable comeback to finish fourth, which was unexpected.”
For Vasseur, the main positive remains the one-lap pace: “This weekend, our performance in qualifying met our expectations, but we need to significantly improve our race pace, as we weren’t competing with Red Bull.”
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