F1 | Vasseur: “Good today. We just need to work on the details”

Ferrari opened the race weekend in Australia in the best possible way, showing that it can be competitive both in terms of flying lap and race pace thanks to an excellent day from Charles Leclerc and a rediscovered Carlos Sainz after the operation he underwent two weeks ago in Jeddah.

The first free practices, however, are only a partial reality and things could already change tomorrow for various reasons. Red Bull didn't find the best set-up today, while the Reds already seem to be on the right track and just need some tweaks to be able to make further steps forward.

At the end of the track day, Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, commented on the two free practice sessions at Albert Park in Melbourne to Sky Sport, underlining how caution is needed in judging what we saw today.

“We need to focus on ourselves. Red Bull will also have their things to do. It certainly went well. Carlos did well and managed to do a long stint without too much pain. So I think he will be able to move on and concentrate on the weekend Charles also went well, he was very consistent with his race pace and fast on the flying lap. It's certainly encouraging for tomorrow.”

“In Melbourne, with the evolution of the track between one day and the next, each session is a story in itself. Tomorrow morning we start from scratch towards qualifying”.

Although Ferrari had an excellent day, Vasseur believes things can improve by working on the details. The right path has now been taken this weekend, but you can never be satisfied enough.

“You can't be completely satisfied, otherwise it means there isn't the right motivation. However, there is a good feeling in the car. There are things to do, but it's work on the details. We're going in the right direction.”

“The pace we showed today was good. Red Bull also had some problems and isn't 100%. I don't want to make comparisons, but for us Friday went smoothly, without problems, we managed to put everything together on both sides the parts of the garage and this is a good starting point for tomorrow.”