Ferrari and McLaren ready to pounce on Red Bull? Vasseur predicts a title upset
Scudera Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur doesn't think he'll be defeated by Red Bull just yet, and believes the Austrian team can lose its crown this year.
While Red Bull has a 56-point lead over Ferrari and a 114-point lead over McLaren in the constructors’ championship, the Italian and British teams are gearing up for a strong comeback in the title race, according to the head of the Scuderia, Fred Vasseur. The battle for the crown promises to be tight, with rapid changes in the situation possible in the next Grand Prix events, he predicts.
Max Verstappen, leader of the championship, saw his dominance challenged during the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. Lando Norris gave him a hard time all the way to the finish line, while Charles Leclerc was not far behind. And let’s not forget the flamboyant victory of the British McLaren driver in Miami, his first of his career – although he was aided a little by a mistake from the safety car.
The championship can quickly turn for Vasseur
For Fred Vasseur, these close results illustrate the slim margin of separation between the leading teams. A retirement or a subpar performance could be enough to change the tide in the coming weeks. « We still have 17 races to go, Vasseur cautions. « It is still too early to make any predictions. At this point in the season last year, we were 100 points behind Aston Martin and we ended up with 100 points ahead of them. This means that the end of the championship is never after the seventh race. It is even more true this season, because the gap is very close. It’s not very common to have six or potentially eight cars that can win a race. »
« This means that when you are not in good shape, you can go from P1 to P8, and in P8, you score almost zero,” the Scuderia boss continues. « Honestly, I haven’t looked at the standings and I don’t know exactly the points delta, but I think if one team scores a double and another has a DNF, McLaren can come back, or we can catch up to Red Bull. »
The French driver stresses that the gaps between the teams are so small that each race can have a significant impact. “The championship can shift in one or two weekends.” Let’s focus on Monaco, let’s not think about the championship, or at least that’s what I’ll tell my guys tomorrow morning. We focus on what we have to do race after race and we will have time to discuss that », he concludes.
Next meeting: the Monaco Grand Prix, a historic circuit where anything is possible and where every mistake costs a lot. Do Ferrari and McLaren have what it takes to dethrone Red Bull? The answer will come this weekend, with the first Free Practice session at 1:30 pm.
