Fred Vasseur has insisted he is taking the positives after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified second and third in Austria, with Mercedes’ George Russell pipping them to pole despite having to lift for a yellow flag.
Saturday’s Qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring came to a close in dramatic circumstances with Leclerc and Hamilton’s final efforts putting the Scuderia drivers in a prime position – sitting first and second with only a few challengers to come.
However, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen crashed out at the penultimate corner as he sought to challenge, with the incident bringing out a yellow flag for those behind to navigate. One of those drivers was Russell, who lifted off but still managed to post a time that usurped the two Ferrari drivers.
As a result, they were left to settle for P2 and P3 on the grid as they were sandwiched between the two Mercedes of Russell and Kimi Antonelli, with the current championship leader qualifying in fourth.
Speaking to F1 TV after the conclusion of the eventful Saturday session, Ferrari’s Team Principal was asked if he was disappointed with how it had all played out at the end with the yellow flag.
“No,” Vasseur said. “First I’m taking the positive that we are second and third, that we are in the fight with Mercedes in the Quali and able probably to have good pace for tomorrow.
“This is most important. We still have 15 races to go and the most important [thing] is the performance.
“On the incident [with the yellows] you can discuss at length whether it was reasonable to not have double yellow in these circumstances when you deploy the Medical Car. Then we don’t have the data of the mini sector, we can’t check if you reduce the speed by five per cent or not, but we have to trust Race Control and I will do it.”
Another positive for Ferrari was the performance of Leclerc, who bounced back after two disappointing weekends – he crashed out in Monaco and Barcelona Qualifying before mechanical issues forced him to retire from the respective Grands Prix as well.
However, Vasseur was adamant that Leclerc’s pace “was always there” and there were no doubts he could return to form.
“It was more you journalists who were a bit worried,” Vasseur explained. “I was not, honestly.
“On his last lap in Monaco he was fighting for pole, he was two tenths in advance compared to Max. When he crashed in Barcelona he was also on a very good lap – the pace was always there.
“Now he was a bit under pressure when you start to do mistakes, and it’s good for him to come back, to do a good lap and to put everything together but the pace was always there.”
With Hamilton sealing a spectacular first win for Ferrari last time out in Barcelona – and with the Scuderia’s impressive tyre management and three-stop strategy proving key – Vasseur also gave his take over what was possible in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix as Mercedes appeared to be a step ahead of the Scuderia.
“Even when they slow down they are faster than us!” Vasseur joked. “But each day it’s another story – it’s not because we had good tyre management two weeks ago that it will work tomorrow.
“We have to put ourselves in clean air, to pay attention to our car and our tyres and not to be focused on the fight or something else. It’s what we did [in the] last race and let’s try to do the same tomorrow.”
