Ferrari’s Canadian GP Woes: Vasseur Reflects on Disastrous Weekend
Ferrari’s frustrating weekend in Montreal has left Scuderia boss Frédéric Vasseur scratching his head. Despite being tipped as favorites to win, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz failed to advance to the top-10 shootout in qualifying, setting the tone for a disastrous race day.
The low-grip conditions in qualifying proved to be a significant challenge for the Ferrari duo, who qualified 11th and 12th respectively. Vasseur admitted that the team struggled to find speed in the damp conditions, but was more optimistic about their race pace on Sunday.
“We had a good pace on Friday, and even though conditions were tricky on Saturday, we were quite confident for the race pace,” Vasseur explained.
However, the race itself was marred by a series of issues, including Leclerc’s crippling engine problem that saw him pit to reset his car and eventually lose a lap before retiring. Sainz suffered early damage to his front wing and floor after contact with Sauber’s Valtteri Bottas, and despite finding some pace on slick tyres as the track dried up, he spun out on a wet patch at Turn 6, taking Williams’ Alex Albon with him.
Vasseur acknowledged that “everything went wrong” for the Scuderia in Canada, with Leclerc’s power unit issue that left him down 80bhp being the most frustrating problem on the day.
“When you are in the car, fighting in a group and see you are missing 10 or 15 kp/h, you have no chance to overtake, your engineer is telling you you are missing 80 horsepower, I can perfectly understand that motivation is difficult to find in this kind of situation,” he sympathized.
Despite the setbacks, Vasseur remained optimistic, insisting that the team wouldn’t overreact or change its approach.
“We don’t change the approach. We are working as a team with the drivers in the good and bad moments and we will keep the same approach for next weekend and continue together.”
With Mercedes now seemingly making it a four-way fight at the front, the emphasis on race weekend execution has never been greater. Ferrari will look to bounce back at the next Grand Prix, hoping to regain its footing in the Formula 1 standings.
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