Vasseur slates ‘unacceptable’ Ferrari weakness but makes vow to Leclerc and Sainz

Daniel Austin
Monday 20 March 2023 13:20

Ferrari team principal Frédéric Vasseur criticised his team's lack of race pace after a disappointing performance at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix but vowed that they aren't conceding defeat for the year just yet.

The Scuderia were expected to be the closest challengers to frontrunners Red Bull at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit and demonstrated impressive speed in qualifying.

But this changed on Sunday, with the team lagging behind rivals Aston Martin and Mercedes in the race, leaving drivers Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc to finish sixth and seventh respectively.

That result leaves the Italian outfit fourth in the constructors' standings, and new arrival Vasseur says poor performance on the hard tyre which both cars ran in the second stint on Sunday was to blame.

"We certainly didn't expect to be in this position," the Swiss said post-race, as reported by Correire dello Sport. "We need to analyse clearly. With the hard tyres, we had a huge lack of pace. Unacceptable! We need to understand and correct it as soon as possible.

"I can't comprehend a car finishing on the front row in qualifying (as Leclerc did before his 10-place grid penalty), and then in the race, it's nowhere."

Despite the demoralising result, former Alfa Romeo team boss Vasseur was stoic about Ferrari's determination to improve, pledging that the Scuderia's staff are determined to maximise the positives from the opening two races of the campaign and to rectify issues with the harder Pirelli rubber.

"We won't give up," Vasseur added. "Leclerc was third [before retiring] in Bahrain. He was second in qualifying here. These are the positive things. The negative thing is the hard tyres, which don't give us performance. The only problem is the race pace with those tyres."