Ferrari came close to its end-of-season goal of finishing second in the 2023 Formula 1 Constructors’ World Championship, despite an exceptional race from Charles Leclerc. Mercedes beat the Prancing Horse by a couple of points, but for the Red there are positive aspects – as well as negative ones – to analyze and repeat next season to be ready from the start and try to fight with Red Bull .
Frédéric Vasseur, team principal of the Scuderia di Maranello, took stock of the long 2023 season, with an eye on the 2024 season which – barring any surprises – will be even more exhausting with its 24 events. The transalpine manager, after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, spoke to Sky Sport F1, touching on several interesting points about the present and future of the Italian team.
Vasseur, Ferrari did everything this weekend to take second place in the Constructors’ World Championship, but they didn’t succeed. Leclerc had a great weekend, but Sainz had several difficulties…
“Carlos was also needed to fight with Mercedes. Without the penalty for Perez, however, we thought it could have gone better… We tried to get Perez going to try to get him to extend his lead over Russell but it wasn’t enough. Maybe a couple more laps would have been needed, but that’s how it went. Let’s keep the positive things in mind. We struggled at the beginning of the season and in the middle part. We went very well in the last 7, 8 races and at times we even struggled with the Reds Bull. If we see where we were 5 months ago… They were on another planet. Now things are different.”
At various points in the season, Leclerc and Sainz have had ups and downs. How much did it influence the final result?
“We have to think that our car was not easy to drive. This also creates a certain lack of confidence and self-esteem. Charles struggled in Monza, in Singapore. He struggled before but then he improved. As for Carlos, things went in a different way, in the sense that he struggled more in the last races, but he had done very well in the previous ones with the victory obtained in Singapore”.
Photo by: Glenn Dunbar
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-23
“As for Carlos, yesterday he showed that he had a decent pace on medium tires and today we didn’t see the same thing. It was a shame, but that’s how it went. Today we were missing something, but I don’t know if it was a car problem. In the last few races we generally did quite well. We missed out in the central part of the season. But it didn’t go the way we wanted.”
Will we need a revolution to fight and beat Red Bull in 2024?
“We won’t have to upset everything in 2024. When you’re 3, 4 tenths behind… I mean, not even Red Bull have a magic wand. They’re doing a better job. We lost a lot of points because of the reliability, the operations in track, the impediments. We must not just focus on one area.”
“If we found ourselves concentrating on doing that, it would be wrong. It won’t be like that. We have a different approach to that, we will try to bring every aspect to the limit. Already during this season we have managed to improve a lot in certain aspects, we will have to maintain the same approach in 2024 and we will see where we are in Bahrain. We will have to stay positive.”
This year was his first year as team principal in Maranello, but he arrived with a ready-made car. Next year will be his first real year. What will change?
“I don’t want to look at the past or the future. Ferrari is not Frederic Vasseur’s team, Ferrari is Ferrari. It is the work of thousands of people and we will need to keep pushing. We have made a good step forward over the course of the season and we will have to continue at the same pace, at the same pace, to develop the car well next year.”
Photo by: Steven Tee / Motorsport Images
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, makes a pit stop
“Then we will certainly analyze the season and there is a lot of room for improvement in many areas, many departments. We will try to do a better job next year, but it is part of the DNA of a racing team. I am convinced that next year we will be even more motivated and this is why I am convinced that we will close with a good result, which will be a good start for 2024.”
What will you ask the team for next season?
“I would ask the team to continue with the same dynamic, if we don’t want to talk about results. The most important thing is to have this type of attitude even in difficult moments. This is how it went this year even when we were in difficulty and this is which allowed us to improve things over the course of the season.”
What do you keep from this season, also in view of the next one?
“I remember perfectly that we experienced difficult moments in the season like Miami and Zandvoort. Moments like those were extremely difficult and I remember that the press was talking about a fifth place in the Constructors’ Championship, not being fighting for second. In the end in the last 7- In 8 races we scored more points than everyone else, excluding Red Bull. We made an excellent recovery. From the difficult moments we managed to build something and we will have to put all this into practice next year too.”
#Vasseur #Red #Bull #planet