F1 | Vasseur: “Perfect race, but we must not sit on our laurels”

The best weekend since he took over the management of Ferrari in Formula 1. This is how Frédéric Vasseur commented on the sensational one-two achieved by Ferrari at the Australian Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz winning the race ahead of Charles Leclerc.

An unexpected victory, even if hoped for after seeing how good the SF-24 could do during free practice both in terms of flying lap and race pace. Expectations therefore confirmed and a race made even more difficult by the retirement of Max Verstappen, which occurred after a few kilometres.

At the end of the Australian Grand Prix, with the double already celebrated, Vasseur spoke to Sky Sport F1 to take stock of Ferrari's start to the season, marked by an excellent and unexpected result which, however, must not change the attention of the team.

Vasseur, if Max had stayed on track would you still have had the chance to take home a double?
“Nobody knows what would have happened if Verstappen had stayed on the track. If we compare it with the pace Perez had it seems like it could have been manageable, but we can't know. We have to enjoy what happened. We still have 21 races to fight with Max “.

This was one of the best weekends in recent years for Ferrari. Everything worked from the beginning…
“Our pace was competitive right from the start. Definitely one of the cleanest weekends of the last 12 months. We had the pace from the first free practice session, very consistent. We had a great race today, then we also set the fastest lap on the penultimate lap. We have to build the rest of the season starting from here. The approach to the weekend was right and this makes a huge difference, because then we were able to work on the details and everything went well from start to finish.”

Looking ahead to the next race, what do you expect in terms of results?
“We have to enjoy this weekend, then we'll think about the future. The big difference compared to the past is that the SF-24 is a much more understandable car for the drivers and for the team. It's a better basis for developing it over the course of the weekend. We can be more consistent, whereas last year we couldn't do things like this. It's still a long way from reaching conclusions, but what's certain is that we did much better than last year. But the journey is very long.”

What is the important thing for Ferrari at this moment of the season?
“We know that we are at the beginning of the season. The important thing is to understand the car well, to get the most out of the package we have. We think there is still something to extract in view of the next round. But I think it applies to everyone, everyone will understand better their cars. Then we will start with development. With a few pre-season tests, we need a couple of races to understand the car better. I would say that this weekend we went very well, but in Suzuka we will start from scratch. It's not as if we are We've done well here, we'll necessarily do well on all the other tracks too. We have to develop, continue with this approach and not think we've arrived. We'll continue to push in this direction.”

Can Ferrari fight for the World Championship this year?
“Fighting for the World Championship with Red Bull? It's really too much, too early to draw any kind of conclusion. Of course we've made a big step forward compared to last year. If we look at Melbourne 2023 we've made a huge step forward, but in Suzuka last year the Red Bulls were flying and it was very difficult for us. So we will have to start from scratch, do everything again from Friday. The step forward is good, but we will have to commit again like today, don't think we've arrived.”

Sainz did a great job. Leclerc recovered from fourth to second place: we have to be satisfied with them…
“Since the beginning of the season our drivers have been doing very well and pushing each other. It's part of an emulation process that is necessary within the team. It's been happening since Bahrain. Here we saw how Charles was the fastest on Friday, while then Carlos improved a lot on Saturday. This spirit of emulation is necessary. Then they are also very intelligent on the track. They understand why we ask them to hold positions, for example. From the first lap to the end everything was perfect.”