Ferrari team boss admits frustration following Saudi Arabian Grand Prix
Ferrari's lack of pace continues to frustrate the team at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Despite a good start, they fell behind Red Bull and Mercedes. Team boss, Fred Vasseur, denies turning down the engines and attributes their lack of pace to tyre management.
Ferrari Team Principal, Fred Vasseur, has expressed his frustration following the team’s sixth and seventh-place finishes at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
The result has left Carlos Sainz in fourth place in the Drivers’ Championship, 24 points behind leader Max Verstappen, with Charles Leclerc trailing behind in sixth place, 38 points off the pace.
Vasseur revealed that the team struggled with the pace of the car after switching to the hard tires. “The pace was not what we expected with the car,” he said in a post-race interview with Sky Sports.
However, he refuted suggestions that Ferrari turned down the engines during the latter part of the race, instead attributing their lack of pace to tire management.
“We were a bit conservative on the tyre management,” he explained. “It was a matter of one or two-tenths but had nothing to do with the gap we had at the Jeddah circuit."
"But we have to understand where the lack of performance is coming from. It is not coming from the management.”
Questions Surrounding Ferrari’s Management
Vasseur’s comments come amid rumors of unhappiness with Ferrari’s management. However, both Sainz and Leclerc denied these rumors ahead of the Jeddah race, calling them an attempt to destabilize the team.
“It seems like the place is not in a great moment,” said Sainz. “But I can tell you it is so clear to us what we need to improve, how we need to do it, what are the short, medium and long term targets, that I’m actually very surprised at how some people back at home have been trying to destabilise the team.''
"Some call it a crisis but we’ve only done one race, it’s impossible to judge a team’s performance after just one race, and we are the first ones not happy with how this first race went."
Ferrari’s Struggle for Pace Continues
Ferrari’s lack of pace in the grand prix is becoming an increasingly frustrating issue for the team, as they continue to struggle to fight for podiums.
Despite showing a decent pace in qualifying, they fell well behind Red Bull in the race, with their drivers also losing out to Fernando Alonso and the two Mercedes drivers.
“The most difficult in my business after a race like this is to understand what is going well and what is not,” said Vasseur.
“I think we have positive points, but we need a step on the reliability. Qualy pace compared to our competitor was much better."
"I think on the one lap we opened the gap. In the first stint of the race, I think we can be quite happy with the outcome."
F1news.live Staff
"But now clearly the race was based on the last stint and we did not have the pace.”
It's still early days in the 2023 season, but it's already clear that Ferrari have some ground to make up if they want to challenge the likes of Red Bull and Aston Martin.
It's been a tough start for the Scuderia, but drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc aren't ready to throw in the towel just yet.
“I see people at the factory are committed, focused and with a very clear target in mind and I include myself in it,” said Sainz.
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