Fred Vasseur ambitious as Ferrari overtakes Mercedes and Red Bull in the constructors’ standings
Fred Vasseur saw Charles Leclerc climb from seventh on the grid to third at the finish in Spain, securing a second consecutive podium for Ferrari. With Lewis Hamilton only sixth, the Scuderia has scored enough points to move ahead of Mercedes and Red Bull in the standings, but there's still work to be done.
If Fred Vasseur made a point of emphasizing that second place represents a significant improvement compared to the beginning of the season, he also tempered the enthusiasm by reminding how far McLaren is ahead, not only in the championship but also in terms of race pace.
Fred Vasseur satisfied
« I prefer to be second rather than fourth or fifth », he stated. « Honestly, if we look closely, after China, when we were disqualified, we were 50 or 60 points behind Mercedes and Red Bull. And now, we’re ahead of them. I think that in the last four or five races, we’ve done a good job. But we have to keep in mind that we’re here to win races, not to be second. »
« That means we need to stay focused on McLaren. I’m not talking about the championship, but about the race pace. Today, we weren’t that far off in the first 40 laps. »
Ferrari bet on different strategies in Spain. Charles Leclerc kept two sets of new medium tires for the race, as well as a set of soft tires that was barely used (just an out lap and an in lap), which gave him an advantage over his teammate.
Lewis Hamilton, on the other hand, had already used more soft tires in qualifying, which penalized him in the race – all the more so because he suffered from a technical problem. All this led the team to switch the order of their drivers at the beginning of the race, a choice that Leclerc validated by finishing on the podium.
Read also: Lewis Hamilton: “It was a difficult day, there is nothing more to add, it was terrible”
Ferrari second in the Constructors’ Championship
Lewis Hamilton described his race as a disaster to certain media outlets, but the team boss was keen to defuse the situation, as he had done after the previous race.
« I think he spent 70% of the race ahead of [George] Russell. I’m not sure if Russell said that the race was a disaster, but then we had an issue with the car in the final stint, before the safety car. The result is not good, but he spent 45 laps ahead of Russell. »
The standout moment of the Grand Prix was the chaos at the restart, with Charles Leclerc overtaking Max Verstappen on the straight. The two made slight contact, but the stewards decided not to investigate further – a decision that Fred Vasseur approved: « Honestly, I didn’t even notice the incident. Later, with Sky Sports, we looked at the steering wheel position on the straight, and it was at zero. It’s not an incident. I understand that [Red Bull] is frustrated after the last two or three laps, but it has nothing to do with Charles. »
Charles Leclerc is at three podiums this season, while the best result for Lewis Hamilton remains a fourth place at Imola, as well as a pole and a Sprint victory in China.
Ferrari now has six points ahead of Mercedes in the championship, but McLaren escapes even further – with an impressive total of 197 points lead in the constructors’ standings.
