Ferrari had the Hungarian Grand Prix in its sights because it was considered one of the most suitable appointments for the characteristics of the SF-23. In the end, the Reds did not go beyond two very disappointing results: seventh place obtained by Charles Leclerc and eighth by Carlos Sainz Jr.
At the end of the race, where the team and Leclerc made several mistakes, Frédéric Vasseur went to the Sky Sport microphones to comment on what his team did this weekend. It is useless to hide a frustration due to unfulfilled expectations: Ferrari still has a lot of work to do, especially after realizing that it had been overtaken by McLaren after the introduction of the big package of innovations conceived by Woking engineers.
Vasseur, how do you judge the Ferrari race in Hungary?
“We’re frustrated. But in the end, if we look at the race, I think that without a 7-8 second delay in the pit stop and the 5 penalty given to Leclerc… We can’t afford all these mistakes if we want to be competitive. The pace wasn’t magical, but it wasn’t that far from Lewis’ pace. But in these conditions, we can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
What are the positive and negative aspects of the Ferrari weekend?
“My role, my job is also to try to separate the positive and negative aspects. The negative ones are in the mistakes we made and also in the fact that in qualifying we are struggling to put everything together. The positive aspect however is that we had a better pace in the race than expected. If we compare our pace to Hamilton’s, we almost equaled it. While the last race was not like that.”
Are you satisfied with the race pace held by the SF-23?
“We were a little afraid of tire degradation given the high temperatures we found today. But overall it wasn’t a bad race in terms of pace, but it is if we look at the result. Especially because we made too many mistakes starting from yesterday’s qualifying. We didn’t go beyond sixth place, then today the pit stop, the penalty… We can’t afford all these mistakes if we want to score more points.”
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes F1 W14, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar / Motorsport Images
Are you happy with the attitude held by the pilots?
“I think Leclerc did a good analysis of the weekend. He knows we made too many collective mistakes, but he also knows that the pace wasn’t bad. There’s certainly room for improvement and he’s totally focused on team development. This is the right attitude. In general, I’m sure Carlos will do it too. They need to be able to criticize, push the team in debriefs, but be calm off the track.”
What can we expect from Ferrari in the next grand prix?
“It’s clear that the standings change enormously from one race to the next, and for us it’s not a question of bringing developments or innovations, but of avoiding making certain mistakes. My job is to worry about ourselves and understand where we can improve. I’m not worried about this situation, but it’s clear from the beginning that we have to do a better job in all areas. It’s not a question of just one department, maybe just at the pit stop or something else. We have to try to grow in every area and we’re pushing each person to the max. But this is life in a team that does ran”.
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