Vasseur: Ferrari’s Key to Success? Patience and Precision

Fred Vasseur stresses patience and consistency as Ferrari seeks to unlock its full potential in the highly competitive F1 grid this season.

Last weekend in Bahrain, Ferrari introduced a new floor for their car, which seems to have given the team a few tenths of improvement. However, it’s not the breakthrough that will close the gap to McLaren F1.

Charles Leclerc mentioned that this new floor could bring even more performance this weekend in Saudi Arabia.

But what does Fred Vasseur think about that? Do the free practice sessions confirm Leclerc’s prediction?

“Yes, but we’re not talking about seconds here, so it’s important to stay calm after the first practice sessions. In free practice, times are often influenced by engine modes, fuel loads, and so on. The track conditions will also be completely different during qualifying, especially when it’s ten degrees cooler in the evening. It’s a different circuit, and it will be a different story.”

It’s difficult to assess the full potential of this Ferrari. Capable of both extraordinary results (like Lewis Hamilton’s sprint victory in Shanghai) and disappointing ones, it clearly has potential but within a very narrow performance window.

So, how does Vasseur plan to unlock this Ferrari’s potential?

“I believe the key is the same for everyone—except maybe McLaren, since they have a slight advantage. But it’s tough to put everything together. The tires are incredibly sensitive, and a small mistake can cost you. In such a tight field, just four hundredths of a second can drop you from 2nd to 6th or 7th on the grid. So, we need to stay calm, not just in terms of race results but also in our conclusions.”

“This is true for us, but it applies to everyone. Take Max, for instance: he was flying in Japan, but the following weekend, he struggled. Today, in F1, the field is so close that one small mistake can cost you five or six places.”

At least on the strategy front, Ferrari is no longer making the same mistakes as before. The Scuderia posted the fastest pit stop in Bahrain, and their strategy—using a well-timed medium tire stint—paid off.

“The ingredients are there,” Vasseur continues. “But it’s like cooking—you need to know how to combine them at the right moment.”

“Honestly, I don’t feel like we’ve gotten the most out of the car so far, except in a few isolated sessions. But I’d say it’s the same for everyone. Even McLaren, with their advantage over the rest of the field, sometimes struggles with one of their cars. That’s the nature of the sport. A few years ago, you could use a set of medium tires, set a lap time, and easily make it into Q2. Today, even top teams sometimes need two sets of softs. Again, the field is incredibly tight, and one small mistake can drop you five or six positions. From the outside, that can look like a disaster.”

“For us, we focus more on pure performance. A few hundredths of a second is not a catastrophe. It means we need to stay calm in our analysis if we want to make progress. I think that was one of the team’s strengths last year—being able to capitalize on every hundredth of a second. I hope we’ll follow the same approach this year.”

So, hundredth after hundredth remains Fred Vasseur’s mantra. The analysis of the second medium tire stint in Bahrain from the previous Grand Prix could be a key to pushing the team forward, as both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were very pleased with it.

“Yes, I think that stint worked well for us. Unfortunately, the safety car came out a bit too early. But now, the goal—our project—is to be more consistent, whether in a race stint or in Q3 or Q2. If we want to fight for wins, we need to have much more consistent weekends. This one started well. Even in China, the sprint went well. And, as you can imagine, we didn’t completely flip the car between those two events.”

When it comes to setups and tires, these are still the crucial—and challenging—factors in today’s F1 cars.

“We’re really on the limit. I don’t want to speak for others, but as soon as you push just a bit too much, you pay for it with tire wear in the next corner. It’s incredibly tight, and finding the right balance is very difficult. But we’re making progress in that direction.”

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Vasseur: Ferrari’s Key to Success? Patience and Precision Vasseur: Ferrari’s Key to Success? Patience and Precision