Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur says their failure to reach the Bahrain Grand Prix podium does not show the team needs to change the concept behind its SF-23 car.
Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz Jnr qualified third and fourth respectively, but only Sainz finished the opening race of the season – in fourth place – as a power unit problem sent Leclerc into retirement.
While Toto Wolff has already conceded Mercedes need to rethink their car to beat Bahrain winner Red Bull, his counterpart at Ferrari believes their design has the potential to rival last weekend’s dominant winners. Vasseur said the team “don’t have to go into this direction” of changing the car’s design as its qualifying pace demonstrates it can be a threat to Red Bull on Sundays.
“I’m completely convinced about this,” he told media including RaceFans. “I never saw a car able to match the pace of another one in quali and not be able to in the race.
“Then it’s a matter of set-up and some choices on the car. But it’s not a matter of concept at all.”
Vasseur took over from Mattia Binotto in charge of Ferrari during the off-season. He was previously team principal at Alfa Romeo and Renault (now Alpine), and prior to that ran the highly successful ART junior formulae operation. His experience gives him confidence in Ferrari’s ability to be competitive.
“I’m sure [of] that because I never experienced in my life a car able to be quick on one lap for a conceptual issue and not be fast on the whole stint,” Vasseur added.
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“It’s, from my point of view, more a set-up issue and a tuning issue. We have to understand what we are doing well and if it’s about cooling or something like this and to come back next weekend stronger.”
Leclerc qualified just under three tenths of a second behind pole-winner Max Verstappen. However Leclerc was closer to the Red Bull driver on their first runs in Q3 and opted not to do a second in order to save a fresh set of tyres for the race. He was 24 seconds behind the leader when he retired from Sunday’s race on lap 39.
Bahrain presents a set-up challenge to teams due to its highly abrasive track surface as well as the dust that can blow onto the circuit from the desert, meaning grip levels can vary around the lap. Vasseur believes the circuit’s characteristics exaggerated the team’s deficit to its key rival, but is under no illusions that they are behind.
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