Despite a pace considered superior to Mercedes, Ferrari missed the podium at Zandvoort. Fred Vasseur wants to understand the mistakes that weighed down the Scuderia.
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Should Ferrari have left Zandvoort with much better than a fourth and fifth place? For Fred Vasseur, the answer seems clear. The Scuderia director believes that the SF-26 had enough pace to achieve a better result at the Dutch Grand Prix, but several execution errors prevented Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc from realizing this potential.
Hamilton ultimately finished fourth, just behind George Russell, while Leclerc crossed the finish line in fifth position. A frustrating result since both Ferraris showed competitive pace during the race and Vasseur even considers that his team was at least faster than Mercedes.
The Frenchman now wants to leave nothing to chance. Starts, pit stops, and strategic decisions will be scrutinized to understand how Ferrari lost several positions during a Sunday when the podium seemed within reach.
Vasseur wants to understand what went wrong
For the Ferrari boss, the main problem did not necessarily come from the car’s performance. The SF-26 was competitive in race pace, but the team failed to properly exploit this speed.
“Yes, the pace was good in the race, but we encountered some problems in execution.”
Vasseur notably points to Leclerc’s second start after the red flag caused by Max Verstappen’s accident. Despite his soft tires, the Monegasque lost a position to Oscar Piastri, who was on hard tires.
“We had a bad start with Charles at the second start. We lost a position to Piastri, who was on hard tires, and we lost a lot of time at that moment in the race.”
The situation did not improve during Leclerc’s pit stop. A too slow stop cost him another position and further complicated his race.
Ferrari was “stronger than Mercedes” according to Vasseur
This is precisely what fuels the French director’s regrets. Ferrari did not seem to lack pure speed compared to Mercedes, but accumulated enough small errors to compromise its chances of a podium.
“Then, we had a bad stop with Charles and lost another position. It’s a kind of confusion and it’s a bit of a shame, because I think our pace was solid.”
Vasseur even goes as far as placing Ferrari ahead of Mercedes in terms of race pace at Zandvoort.
“I think we were at least stronger than Mercedes.”
A particularly frustrating observation since Russell ultimately finished third. Hamilton came back to less than a second from his former teammate in the last laps, but a late virtual safety car deprived him of a real last attack opportunity.
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“We need to thoroughly examine what we did”
Faced with these missed opportunities, Vasseur now demands a detailed analysis of the weekend. He especially wants to understand why Leclerc was so vulnerable at the start despite the theoretical advantage of his soft tires.
“Now, we need to thoroughly examine what we did and what we did wrong, to understand why we lost that position at the start with the softs and try to do better next week.”
The debrief will also have to look at the choices made by the pit wall. Ferrari found itself several times having to react to the stops of its rivals, which made managing the two SF-26s particularly complex.
Regarding Leclerc, the team was notably considering playing with his stop window to try to gain an advantage over Russell. But the movements of several cars around him ultimately changed the scenario.
Hamilton still frustrated by Ferrari’s decisions
Managing Lewis Hamilton is the other sensitive issue. Thanks to extended stints, the Briton had at times significantly fresher tires and a better pace than Leclerc. Yet he found himself stuck behind his teammate.
Hamilton expressed his dissatisfaction on the radio, feeling he was losing valuable time. The delay before Leclerc’s stop reportedly cost him about a second according to Vasseur, while the seven-time world champion ultimately failed by less than a second to catch Russell.
“The story with Lewis is that at some point, we were trying to go to the end, and I think that would also have been a good decision.”
This strategy could have allowed Hamilton to keep his position on track and make the most of his tires until the finish. However, the late race events reshuffled the cards.
“But we probably lost a second behind Charles. When your goal is to go to the end, that’s obviously not what you want.”
A crucial debrief before Monza
Vasseur nevertheless refuses to judge the entire strategy solely based on the final result. The late virtual safety car intervention significantly changed the end-of-race dynamics and facilitated some stops.
“With what happened afterwards, you can always rewrite the race…”
Still, Ferrari had a car fast enough to aim for the podium and leaves the Netherlands with fourth and fifth places. After the frustrations expressed by Hamilton and Leclerc and the strategic hesitations of the pit wall, the debrief promises to be particularly important.
And the timing could hardly be more symbolic: Ferrari must now correct these mistakes before Monza, its home Grand Prix, where the pressure surrounding the Scuderia will be even greater.
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