GP China, Vasseur: “Ferrari, we should have done a better job yesterday”

by VALERIO BARRETTA

Vasseur analyzes the post-China

Under the gray sky of Shanghai, a very gray Ferrari. The SF-24 is not convincing in terms of pace and in the Chinese Grand Prix it falls off the podium for the first time in the year. The start from sixth and seventh position was penalizing, and Charles Leclerc's choice to cover the outside in turn-1 to avoid overtaking by Carlos Sainz certainly had an influence: after that maneuver the Reds found themselves in eighth and ninth place, behind George Russell and Nico Hülkenberg.

Even after the first corners and especially after the Safety Car (when the race practically started from scratch for everyone) However, Ferrari never gave the impression of having the pace for the podium. For Frederic Vasseur Qualifying was the trigger for today's poor performance, but the performance on the hard tire also needs to be investigated.

Vasseur's words

“We started 6th and 7th, we needed to do a better job in qualifying because we were too far away. That was the real problem, because then it becomes really difficult to come backand with the dirty air in front you lose ground“, this is his immediate comment to Sky Sports F1. “We have to pay attention and we have to be more careful in qualifying, certainly“.

“We had a good first stint on the mediums. I think we had a good conservative approach with the tires and at that stage we were in a good position, but then we struggled a lot more with the hard“, he continued. “It was difficult to warm up the tires and we suffered throughout the stint. It's not a question of half a second, but of a tenth or a tenth and a half, but we need to understand why we were in a better position with the average at the beginningthen struggling with the hard“.