Fred Vasseur: “We want to come back to Spain at the level we were at this season”

This weekend is the Spanish Grand Prix, the tenth round of the season and a home race for Carlos Sainz. The objective is clear for Ferrari: to return to the front of the grid after the poor performance at the Canadian Grand Prix, which ended with a double retirement.

« The Spanish Grand Prix should see us become competitive again, with the same level of performance that we have demonstrated throughout the season before the Canadian Grand Prix. In fact, we arrive in Barcelona encouraged by the fantastic performance of our Ferrari Hypercar colleagues who have just won the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second consecutive year », enthuses Fred Vasseur in a statement from the Scuderia.

He asserts that the team has drawn valuable lessons from the weekend in Montreal and believes that they have now turned the page. We need to work calmly and continue to focus on ourselves. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya has always been considered an excellent test of a car’s overall capabilities, and we expect to regain our usual form here.

However, he remains realistic: Nevertheless, throughout the season, we have seen qualifications and the race being decided by a hundredth of a second, so it will be crucial for us to ensure that we do everything correctly, down to the smallest detail, adds the team director. This will involve us being at the top of our game, as only by executing each session perfectly can we achieve the results we know we are capable of reaching. It is going to be an interesting weekend and we are aiming to score a lot of points.

Home race for Carlos Sainz

One month after Charles Leclerc’s victory in Monaco, it is Carlos Sainz’s turn to race at home. The Spaniard has already driven through the streets of downtown Barcelona on Wednesday for a road show aboard his single-seater, much to the delight of fans. He also has a special stand here, the Grada CS55, for his fans and the tifosi who have come to support him.

« It’s a circuit with a lot of character and we, the drivers (most of us at least!), know it very well because of the amount of testing we have done there in the past, explains the Madrid native. « Turns 1, 2, and 3 form a very nice combination of medium to high-speed corners where your neck is put to the test. Turn 9 is also very fast and a bit blind because it’s uphill. You have to treat your tires well in the first part of the lap if you want to extract the maximum in sector 3 and complete a competitive lap in qualifying. »

Since the beginning of the history of the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari has competed in 53 races, achieving 14 pole positions and 12 victories.