Ferrari Formula 1 Boss Denies Being Outdeveloped by Rivals Despite Spanish GP Struggles
Ferrari’s Upgrades and Performance
Ferrari Formula 1 team principal Frederic Vasseur has dismissed claims that the Scuderia has been outdeveloped by its Formula 1 rivals, following a subpar showing at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Italian marque had started the season strongly, with an overhauled SF-24 delivering two victories and nine podiums in the opening eight rounds of the Formula 1 schedule. However, Ferrari’s pace has stuttered in recent races, with struggles in Canada and Spain seeing the team slip behind Mercedes in the Formula 1 standings.
Despite bringing a significant upgrade package to Barcelona, Ferrari struggled to maintain pace with its immediate rivals, with Charles Leclerc finishing fifth and Carlos Sainz sixth. However, Vasseur has claimed that the new parts worked as anticipated and highlighted the intense development race in Formula 1, which ensures that potential gains are all relative.
“Yes, we are satisfied with the numbers that we get. First, everybody is improving. That means that it is not that because you bring something, you will do a jump in front. It is that if you don’t bring, you will do a jump backwards. And everybody is bringing parts now, each two or three events.”
Vasseur emphasized that Ferrari’s development is focused on incremental steps, and it may take several rounds to unlock the true potential of upgrades. He also believes that the team’s relative performance will converge over the next 12 months, citing the intense development race in Formula 1.
Set-up and Performance Optimization
When asked whether the weak pace was down to not optimizing the set-up, Vasseur retorted, “No, but perhaps we do a better usage of the car next week after one event. It was quite often the case for everybody last year that if you have a look on the performance, when every single team was bringing something, it was sometimes the race after that the performance was there. And it will be like this until the end also because we have a kind of asymptote of performance.”
Comparisons to Rivals
Leclerc and Sainz both insisted post-race that McLaren has moved ahead, but Vasseur contends that no team has made more progress than Ferrari since last season. “McLaren, one year ago, they finished UK 25 seconds ahead of us,” he highlighted. “I’m not sure that the rate of development is much bigger than what we are doing.”
The Formula 1 calendar moves on to the next race, and Ferrari will be looking to regain its momentum and close the gap to its rivals. With the intense development race continuing, Vasseur’s claims will be put to the test in the coming races.
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