Fred Vasseur reveals where Ferrari « failed massively » in Canada

Fred Vasseur did not mince his words after the Canadian Grand Prix, stating that Ferrari had massively failed in its execution of the weekend, despite points finishes for Charles Leclerc (5th) and Lewis Hamilton (6th), the latter benefiting from Lando Norris's late retirement.

Ferrari on the backfoot in Canada

Ferrari never seemed in a position to compete with Mercedes, Red Bull, or McLaren, and this was not only due to the performance of the car. The weekend started badly from the free practice sessions, with Charles Leclerc falling victim to a crash in FP1 that prevented him from participating in the second session.

In qualifying, the tire strategy also raised questions: Ferrari gambled on the soft C6 tires, while Mercedes and Red Bull successfully opted for the mediums. In the race, Charles Leclerc even questioned the two-stop strategy decided by the team.

A complicated race

As if that wasn't enough, Ferrari's race was further complicated by unforeseen circumstances, including damage to the floor of Lewis Hamilton's car after hitting an animal.

« I think we made too many collective errors from the start, with the accident in FP1, the mistake in qualifying, the groundhog during the race...», explained Fred Vasseur.

« And in the end, the battle is so close, I'm not even talking about lap times, but the fact that everything can come down to very little from one weekend to the next. »

He praised the performance of Mercedes, doubly present on the podium in Montreal after three difficult races. They probably haven't transformed the car completely. It's just that they were ready from Friday morning. They prepared their weekend well. Honestly, on our side, for different reasons, the focus wasn't always there, he explains.

Improvements to be made

For Fred Vasseur, in an ultra-tight 2025 season, it is not so much the technical developments as the perfect execution of the weekend that makes the difference.

Honestly, I'm not sure that the car's features are the main issue today. The most important thing is the use and understanding of the tires, and choosing the right tires from the qualifications, which is far from simple.

« I think Max [Verstappen] and Mercedes simply worked better than McLaren and us this weekend, especially by going in the right direction from Friday morning. »

He insists that an optimal tire management can erase the differences between cars: « No matter the car, if a team manages the tires better, they will be ahead. It was true here, it was true in Monaco, in Imola, and it will be like this until the end of the season. It's the same for everyone, but we need to do better. »

Fred Vasseur acknowledged that small technical developments would be introduced in Austria, but emphasized that the most significant gain would come from a general improvement in the execution of weekends.

« If we want to start from the front rows and have a clean weekend like in Monaco, everything has to go perfectly from start to finish. And that's precisely where we massively failed in Canada », he says.

After this failed weekend, Ferrari drops to the third place in the constructors' standings, now 16 points behind Mercedes.