F1 | Vasseur: “Max is fast, but Ferrari is there. Good race pace”

At Ferrari, after the first two free practice sessions of the 2024 Formula 1 season which took place today in Sakhir, there is caution, but with that pinch of optimism that never hurts.

Frédéric Vasseur, team principal of the Prancing Horse, presented himself very calmly to the microphones of Sky Sport F1 to comment on the first official track day of the new season, a sign that the SF-24 was born well and, even if the work to be done for improvement must be done, the base from which the Maranello team starts is more than solid.

“Today went well overall, but it's not easy to have a clear picture of the performance. But this morning in Free Practice 1 we were all quite close, all within a tenth and a tenth are 2.5 kilos of fuel. This means that it's very difficult have a clear picture of the performances. Both Sainz and Leclerc did a pretty good race stint simulation, but let's focus on ourselves and try to improve the potential we have.”

Vasseur underlined how the SF-24 is the result of work that has led to tire management much better than the SF-23 did last year. The pace in the race simulation of Leclerc and Sainz was good, only exceeded by a few tenths by Verstappen.

“We corrected the biggest problem we had on last year's car, which was tire degradation, but also wind sensitivity and other factors. Today was a good demonstration. There was a lot of wind today, but it was quite clear that we have grown. Pure performance on the flying lap is another thing compared to race pace and tomorrow we will have a clearer picture.”

“We had already made a good step forward on the wind issue in the second half of last year. We started again on that basis and this is good for us, because now we have a clearer picture and it is much easier to develop the car when you feel it, while at the beginning of last year it wasn't so easy.”

Today Leclerc finished the day ninth in the general classification. His qualifying simulation was slowed down first by a driving error (a wheel stuck on a curb), then by Lance Stroll staying off the line in the first sector. Vasseur, however, doesn't worry because he knows well the characteristics and skill of the Monegasque when he counts most during qualifying.

“Charles made a mistake on the first lap and traffic on the second. But this is not a drama, because qualifying is tomorrow. In the end I think he was still able to do a good lap despite the problems he had. The one he achieved on the third lap it was a good time, let's see how it goes tomorrow.”

To conclude, the Ferrari manager did not want to make predictions for the next few days. Verstappen will certainly be in the game, if not the absolute favorite for pole and victory. However, it seems that the margins between the Dutchman and his main rivals are narrower than in 2023 which the 3-time world champion had.

“Front row tomorrow? Well, let's see. I don't know what happened to Max today, because I expected him to go faster. I was a bit surprised. but his race pace was competitive, he was a bit faster than everyone else. I think he'll find the pace on the flying lap tomorrow too. Aside from Max we were all very close. It becomes impossible to predict how it will go. We don't even know how much fuel the others had, so it's difficult to say.”