Baku Qualifying, Vasseur: “Pole is good, but tomorrow is the important thing”

Perfect Saturday, but it’s not enough

Fred Vasseur can only smile after qualifying for the Azerbaijan GP. Ferrari continues to fly and after the triumph in Monza, Charles Leclerc also took pole position in Baku. Behind him, in third place, Carlos Sainz will start tomorrow. An extremely encouraging result, which however does not make the French manager take too many flights of fancy, firmly focused on what will be the race.

“We have to enjoy the pole, but the most important thing will be the race tomorrow – Vasseur declared to the microphones of Sky Sport F1 – It doesn’t matter if you have three, two or five tenths of advantage, you don’t start further away. This means we have to focus only on ourselves. We have a good pace and we have had it since the beginning of the weekend, both on the race simulation and on the flying lap. Having both cars in front tomorrow is important, but the others are not far away. I’m sure the race will be difficult“.

Leclerc feels at home

The big difference, especially in Q3, was made by Charles Leclerc, who took his fourth pole in a row in Baku: “Charles has a special feeling of self-confidence when he arrives in Baku or Monaco. – confirmed Vasseur – and the most important thing is to keep it under control. We must not overdo it, but just do the minimum necessary, and I think Charles is able to keep everything under control. We have always had a better pace in race simulation than in qualifying this year and that is encouraging for tomorrow“.

In Monza the victory came thanks to a strategic call, tomorrow the same thing could happen: “I think the strategy will be dictated by the Safety Car rather than other factors. – warned the Ferrari team principal – and I don’t know if the only rival for the win will be McLaren, because the race pace shows that there is a very small gap between all four main teams. But the important thing is not to think about the others but about ourselves. We have to work with the car we have available, we know that our pace is good and this means that we have to do our job: start well, have a good rhythm and keep everything under control. Constructors’ World Championship? Honestly, I don’t know the gap. The most important thing is to concentrate day by day. It would be a mistake to think about anything else. Mercedes went from a one-two at Spa to 7th-8th place at Zandvoort – he concluded – This means it can happen to anyone.”.