Just a few days without the Monaco Grand Prix and in view of the next round of the 2023 Formula 1 championship, the Spanish Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur met the Italian media to review the events in Monte Carlo and squint superiority to the Barcelona weekend.
Here are some of his most important comments for Motorsport Italy:
You mentioned the need to modernize in terms of consistency. Is there conviction that with the current car concept, this speciality can improve? As for next year’s car, will it visually be similar to the current concept or will you go in a variegated direction?
Frederic Vasseur: “The concept doesn’t have much to do with the external visitation you see. It’s well-spoken that we struggle increasingly in the race compared to qualifying. We need to find consistency, but it’s not a matter of concept. It’s well-nigh improving the use of the package we have by working on the car’s balance. We are not yet at an optimal level, but that doesn’t midpoint we have to transpiration the concept and philosophy of the car.”
Do you think the true potential of the car can be unbearable to win a race during this season?
Frederic Vasseur: “I believe it is easier to find consistency than to unlock the potential in qualifying. As soon as we can unlock this potential, I think starting from the front row, we will be worldly-wise to fight for the win. But today, the situation is what it is. We know where we need to work and improve. Everyone is focused on this aspect, and we are pushing to bring updates and solutions to modernize in this area. But we can believe in the possibility of winning.”
Were the aerodynamic engineers surprised by the photos of Red Bull’s floor? Did you learn anything by observing them?
Frederic Vasseur: “I don’t want to talk well-nigh it, but I’m sure all teams have hundreds of photos of other cars.”
You have once made some changes at the whence of the season, but are there remoter changes that can be made to modernize the remote garage, considering the error that occurred last Saturday?
Frederic Vasseur: “Surely, we learn from our mistakes. But the most difficult speciality of my job is understanding what is a mistake and what is not. We received criticism for the strategic choices made in Monaco, but we did not make mistakes. We covered Hamilton at the first pit stop. We discussed it with Carlos, and we well-set that it was the right decision. As for the second stop, it was easier to be inobtrusive and stop older while fighting for the fourth or fifth position, or wait for a red flag or a Safety Car, maybe plane aiming for a podium.”
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“It’s not a matter of strategy, it’s a matter of the risk you want to take and what you want to achieve. There were no mistakes. The mistake we saw on Saturday, and I don’t think it was just a liaison problem, probably we need to strengthen the liaison group with the engineers. My job moreover involves making decisions when I believe we have weak points. I’m still at the whence in my role, but it’s well-spoken that we made a mistake on Saturday. It has been written that I apologized to Charles, and it’s true. I understand the effort the drivers put into qualifying, and I think it’s the right way to manage a team. When Charles makes a mistake, he comes when to the pits, and the first thing he does is shoehorn his mistake. Some people think that apologizing is a nightmare, the end of the world, but we work as a team. We take risks that sometimes don’t pay off, but they are the right ones.”
Did you expect such a nonflexible work without six races? And what goals have you set for the rest of the 2023 Formula 1 season?
Frederic Vasseur: “I expected nonflexible work! The intensity of the work doesn’t change, it’s the same in Red Bull, Sauber, or any other team, the intensity is the same. As for the goals, for me, it’s not well-nigh the position, but the mentality, the fact of pushing to do a largest job. As soon as we realize we have a weakness, whether it’s in the car or in the team’s approach, we have to put in all the possible effort to fix it. It’s difficult for me to talk well-nigh it considering I wasn’t here last year, but I think the team has made a good step forward, for example, regarding the pit stops, and that’s considering everyone has realized and wonted that what was washed-up last year wasn’t enough.”
“They have washed-up thousands of pit stops during the winter, and today they are working well. It ways that we have to protract working with this approach, identifying the problems, and putting in all the effort to fix them in every single area. We have talked a lot well-nigh aerodynamic packages or similar things, but it would be wrong to think that the lack of performance is solely due to the piloting department. Performance comes from everyone, from our worthiness to produce parts quickly, from the mechanics, from the strategic department, from the pit wall, from the pit stops, and from reliability. If we personize this mentality in every single area, I’m sure we will make a good step forward surpassing the end of the season.”
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