Ferrari workforce principal Fred Vasseur believes there can be “an actual battle” for the constructors’ championship till the top of the season given the fluctuations in kind amongst groups.
McLaren took the championship lead after Oscar Piastri’s victory within the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Lando Norris’s fourth serving to the workforce to leapfrog Purple Bull on the prime of the standings. Ferrari had taken pole by Charles Leclerc however completed second, and the collision between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez leaves it 51 factors adrift McLaren and 31 behind Purple Bull. Vasseur expects extra twists and turns within the battle.
“The following race can be completely different as a result of it’s the identical kind of nook however with rather more downforce, so it’s one other situation,” Vasseur mentioned. “Nevertheless it’s true that the delta between automobiles, maybe Baku apart however when you take a look at Monza, in Spa, in Budapest, you very often have six or seven automobiles inside one tenth or a tenth and a half.
“The classification might be linked to the upgrades we’re bringing or to the traits of the observe, and I feel it’s extra the traits of the observe than one thing else. Will probably be up and down till the top of the season.
“However what’s essential, most likely the place we failed [in Baku], is to win when you find yourself in good condition but additionally to attain good factors when you find yourself not, as a result of we can have ups and downs till the top of the season and it’s at all times essential to attain good factors when we aren’t in good condition.
“We failed in Canada, the UK and Austria this yr and it’s most likely costing us rather a lot. However we’re again on the tempo, we’re again to preventing for pole place every weekend, to battle for the win, and we nonetheless have 300 factors on the desk till the top of the season, one thing like this. Which means all the things is feasible and it will likely be an actual battle. [Baku] didn’t flip in our route, however we can have higher weekends.”
Ferrari’s latest run of kind that has delivered a win at Monza and a second in Azerbaijan comes after it launched an improve in Italy, and Vasseur mentioned a mix of recent elements and tweaking set-ups with older specs can be central to the battle.
“I feel it’s true for us, but it surely’s true for everyone, that every single improve that we need to deliver to the automobile, we’re already on the sting of the efficiency, the bouncing and so forth,” he mentioned. “So we now have to concentrate. However we are able to’t keep like we’re both, as a result of everyone is pushing and creating, even when it’s tough. If we take a look at the grid of Monza, we had 5 automobiles in a single tenth, and meaning each single bit will make an enormous distinction.”
