Ferrari, more could not be
Charles Leclerc’s third place in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the maximum result the Ferrari could aspire to, in a race without significant episodes: it was clear that the Monegasque’s was a “weak” pole, destined to be overturned by the race and from a Red Bull that at the start of the season is in another category (words of Leclerc himself). Frederic, the team principal Vasseurpractical and pragmatic, therefore sees the glass as half full: Ferrari not only clawed into third place, but also showed improvements in race pace, degrading the tires less than in the first two races and confirming the comforting sensations in Melbourne.
Vasseur’s words
“It doesn’t matter what I feel with my first podium in a race with Ferrari, the important thing is that we did a step forward in terms of performance with the two poles and today’s race. The goal is still to win, but at least we did a good job. after Melbourne we knew the pace was good, but we weren’t able to put everything together, while today we took a step forward. Now let’s go to Miami, and that will be another story“.
Understanding the package
“All will bring updates the next races, and we shouldn’t expect to do more. I believe the performance comes more from the fact that we have managed to make very good use of the package we have, and that’s where we managed to improve a lot compared to Jeddah, for example. We have worked better in operational terms, and I am very satisfied with the work done so far, we are on the right track. I think Red Bull didn’t manage the race, they never do. They always pushed hard. The condition of their tires approached ours towards the end of the race, which also meant we had a similar pace to them in the closing laps.“.
The pilots
“Charles said he loves Ferrari and wants to become world champion, we have to keep calm. We are at the beginning of the season, where all the voices are heard every weekend, but it is not a topic of discussion. Charles made a perfect weekend, on the single lap he made a magical overtaking and over the long run, when we asked him to push and create a gap on Fernando, he did great. He made only one mistake on the 2nd lap in Q3, but it wasn’t a mistake for me, because he had already taken pole, so he hit the target“, continued the Frenchman, who then spoke about fifth place Sainz. “In some cases Carlos has been ahead of Charles, but this weekend he lost the car in the first corner of Q1, so it was tough for him. He had to use the second set and that made him lose confidence a bit: if he loses it, it becomes a nightmare here, like in Monte-Carlo. He didn’t have time to build confidence between practice and qualifying, and that forced him to chase. With this situation I’m still happy with his 5th placebecause from the beginning we understood that it was going to be a difficult weekend, but he stayed on track until the end of the race“.
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