F1 | Vasseur: “We can compete in the race. It’s a question of details”

It could have been worse, but also a little better. Ferrari finds itself evaluating the sixth place obtained by Charles Leclerc and the 11th of Carlos Sainz in the Qualifying of the Dutch Grand Prix, one of the most difficult events for the Reds in a few years now.

At the end of the official tests on the Zandvoort track, Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur spoke to Sky Sport F1 to comment on what happened this afternoon, but also to take stock of tomorrow’s race where the Reds are expected to have a more competitive race than in the tests that saw them as supporting actors this afternoon.

Vasseur, do you think Ferrari could have achieved a better result today?
“For Leclerc this was the best possible result, yes, but also no. Maybe we could have fought with Perez and gained another position. However, due to the conformation of the track and the lack of updates we didn’t expect much, also because last year it was our worst race here. However, we will still have to try to do the best possible race and bring home as many points as possible in tomorrow’s race”.

What about Carlos, instead?
“From Carlos’ point of view it will be more difficult. Before qualifying he had never managed to do a lap on the Softs, because yesterday in the only session done in the dry he had a technical problem after a few minutes and he didn’t have the chance to run anymore. He wasn’t able to prepare the lap on the Softs and it became an impossible task to qualify for Q3 with so many cars so close in terms of times.”

Do you think bouncing was the main problem for Ferrari on this track?
“This is a very difficult track for bouncing, because there are very fast corners like 7 and 8. However, we struggle more on the long corners both this year and last year. We knew it would be a challenge for us and it is, indeed. We have made progress on bouncing, but we have to deal with the limits of the car. We will have more favourable tracks for us between now and the end of the season, but here it will be very important to score good points, because it counts a lot to score them even when you are in difficulty. We were unable to do that in Canada, Spain and the UK. In those races we lost a lot of points and if we look at it we are 60 points from Red Bull today. That is almost the number we lost in those GPs. That is why tomorrow it will be important to have a good race and finish in the points.”

What kind of race does Sainz expect, starting from 11th place? Could you adopt an aggressive strategy?
“I think Carlos will recover pace quickly in the race. He missed Q3 by a tenth. In the race there will be other aspects like tyre management. We are confident that we can manage the tyres well and we can do something in terms of strategy. Often there is a right solution that works for both strategies and tyre choice. Doing something drastically different can take you further away from the optimum. So there is always a downside to taking certain risks.”

Do you think that Ferrari could be more competitive in terms of race pace than it is today?
“Yesterday, on the race simulation, we only had one car available, Leclerc’s, so we were able to collect less data. I think Norris was always one step ahead, but then we were close to the others. It will also depend on the characteristics of the track, then the temperatures should be lower and there should be less wind. When the difference is so small, 2 tenths between all the cars except Norris’s, then it’s the details that make the difference.”

What weather conditions do you hope to find for tomorrow’s race?
“When you’re struggling, you generally hope for consistent conditions to get something out of it. The weather has been up and down so far. We’ll just have to make the best of what we find in tomorrow’s race.”