Fred Vasseur wants to put pressure on Max Verstappen in 2024, the only way he might make mistakes
Ferrari Formula 1 boss, Fred Vasseur, believes that after experiencing an almost perfect 2023 season, Max Verstappen will be vulnerable to making mistakes when put under pressure by his rivals.
Verstappen won 19 out of the 22 races in this season, missing out twice against his teammate Sergio Perez in the early races, and then against Carlos Sainz of Ferrari when Red Bull had a weekend at the Singapore GP in September. The Dutchman also finished the year with virtually no damage on his RB19, although he made contact with George Russell in Las Vegas, an incident that resulted in a penalty for the Mercedes driver.
Frederic Vasseur emphasized the fact that Ferrari didn’t push the Red Bull driver enough this year. I don’t think it’s uncertain that anyone has doubts about that, he had a mega season. He was fighting with Checo in the first two or three races, then he ended up on another level entirely.
« Clearly, he has not made any mistakes throughout the season, and when he faced difficulties in qualifying, like in Djeddah, it was due to a mechanical issue. And yet, he was always there, always with good starts, without any contact. The only one was Vegas ».
Vasseur wants to push Verstappen to his limits and has made it clear with clear words. « But I think we are getting closer to him, we are… I don’t mean to say that we’re putting him under pressure because that’s not true, in Abu Dhabi he wasn’t under pressure. But he was a little more under pressure than at Zandvoort or during other races when he was dominating. »
Vasseur emphasized that even though Ferrari has shown better form in the last races of the year, the Italian team is still not close enough to truly make life difficult for the world champion.
« There is no doubt that he has dominated the entire season. […] And the only problem for us is that, like everyone else, he will make more mistakes when under pressure. But no one has been able to put him under pressure this season, except for us in the last two or three events, or except for Carlos in Singapore ».
« And that’s when he started making mistakes, or maybe Red Bull made mistakes in terms of settings. We were too far away to put that kind of pressure on them. »
