F1 | Vasseur: “If we develop as well as in 2023, we will fight with Red Bull”

First podium obtained and a bitter fourth place are the spoils taken home by Ferrari in their first outing of the season at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz was the first and only pursuer of the only Red Bull really fighting with the others, that of Sergio Perez, while Charles Leclerc finished at the foot of the podium despite having to deal with very significant brake problems.

At the end of the Sakhir race, Frédéric Vasseur spoke to Sky Sport F1 to comment on the first of the 24 Formula 1 races scheduled during this season with Ferrari which proved to be the second force quite clearly, despite having had to express partial potential considering the problems that occurred with Leclerc's SF-24 number 16.

Vasseur, are you satisfied with the result obtained today?
“We expected something better, we're not satisfied. But with what happened in the race, given the circumstances, all in all we brought home a good result. We didn't expect to have these brake problems which penalized the race enormously. Leclerc in the first half of the race. Sainz made a good comeback, he managed to fight with Perez.”

In the race you chose a different tire strategy from that of Red Bull…
“We knew in advance that they would have two sets of Soft and one set of Hard to use in the race while we had 2 sets of Hard. The goal was to put some pressure on Perez and in the end we were slightly faster than him , but it wasn't enough. But we got within 2.5 seconds of him, so overall it wasn't bad. Carlos didn't start very well, but then he fought and managed to find a good position on the track. It was a difficult race for Charles, but overall I think he did a good job taking home fourth place in those conditions.”

Only Verstappen appeared uncatchable…
“I think Verstappen was in a position to have an advantage which led him to do a very fast lap and a conservative one to manage the engine and tyres. But overall, in the 57 laps, he had about twenty seconds' advantage over his first pursuers. Certainly it went better than last year, but it's also true that we're still 4-5 tenths slower than him, so we have to grow.”

Do you think Ferrari could have a better chance of fighting Red Bull in Jeddah?
“Jeddah will be a very different race. The asphalt is very different, there will be zero degradation, the asphalt is very smooth, we will use the softest tires made by Pirelli and we will all start from scratch. It is clear that if we look at the gap at first to tenth, the gap has decreased by 50%, which means that on a strategic level it will be much more difficult to manage because when you leave the pits you are much further back and in traffic. It's all very different. We live up to expectations on the flying lap and in the race we made up ground. There's still something to do, but the start is good.”

What do you think of Leclerc's race?
“I honestly believe that Leclerc did a good race. Of course it is difficult to judge when you start second and finish fourth. But given the circumstances and the problems with the brakes we can say that he did an excellent race, because in any case he finished ahead of McLaren and Mercedes There are races where you have problems, but if you can fix them in this way it's very good.”

In your opinion, without the brake problems that slowed him down throughout the race, would Leclerc have been able to compete for second place with Perez?
“It's difficult to know if Charles would have been able to compete for second place, but perhaps having the same pace as Carlos, starting further up the front, I think he would have had his chances. He lost a lot of time due to the problem he had. The brakes lost temperature and we don't know what happened. We told Charles to stay close to whoever was in front of him to regain his temperature.”

Of course you have made a good step forward compared to last year. Do you think it is possible to fight with Red Bull during the season?
“We must be clear. We didn't start well compared to Red Bull, but compared to last year we started well. Then during last year we improved a lot and on some tracks we were fighting with them. If we manage to develop as we did in 2023, then it will be possible to fight.”