“In the fight with Mercedes and McLaren,” Ferrari rules out challenging the mighty Red Bull in Austria after a ‘disappointing’ Sprint quali

Ferrari is currently 60 points adrift of Red Bull in the 2024 Constructors Championship.

“In the fight with Mercedes and McLaren,” Ferrari rules out challenging the mighty Red Bull in Austria after a ‘disappointing’ Sprint quali

Fred Vasseur, Christian Horner, and Max Verstappen (Via: Imago)

The Ferrari F1 team for some reason has somewhat put their foot off the gas in the 2024 world championship tussle. Since the end of the Monaco event, things have not panned out well and the same was the story during yesterday’s Austrian GP Sprint qualifying.

Carlos Sainz managed a P5 birth behind Red Bull, the two McLaren’s and George Russell‘s W15. Charles Leclerc, on the other hand, ended up in P10 after a SQ3 issue. Seeing the tough outing, Ferrari boss, Fred Vasseur has admitted that his team is not going to challenge Red Bull in Austria.

YouTube video

Moreover, he sees his team in competition with Mercedes and McLaren around the 4.3 km long Red Bull Ring.

FS Video
We are obviously disappointed to have one car in P5 and the other in P10. We need to look at our performance on the soft tyre, since on the Medium it was ok and we were in the fight with Mercedes and McLaren. We also need to work on the bouncing the cars experienced in the final two quick corners because it’s costing us a bit of time.
Fred Vasseur said post Sprint qualifying

Looking at the reaction of the Frenchman, it is quite clear that he is concerned going forward into the Austrian GP weekend. He feels that the SF-24 has not operated smoothly around the fast Speilberg track and thus, his team has got to do a bit of tweaking on the challenger.

Ferrari has only ‘one strategy’ going into the Sprint race

While Vasseur has admitted that Ferrari won’t be able to challenge Red Bull in Austria, he has also shed light on the strategy for the Sprint race. Sainz and Leclerc will have the freedom to push to the maximum during the short race.

Carlos Sainz, Fred Vasseur and Charles Leclerc (via IMAGO)
Carlos Sainz, Fred Vasseur and Charles Leclerc (via IMAGO)

Moreover, starting P5, the former will have a decent chance of landing his SF-24 on the podium.

For tomorrow in the Sprint, there is only one strategy and that is to push, because there is no mandatory pit stop for such a short race, so all we can do is push hard. We want to score good points with Carlos and bring home some more with Charles.
Fred Vasseur said in the same interview

Ferrari is currently in second place in the 2024 Constructors Championship. They are 60 points adrift of Red Bull and considering this, Vasseur and Co. really can’t afford to miss out on any points-scoring opportunities.

In the sprint race, the points are awarded to the top eight drivers, and with Sainz starting in fifth, he is in a good position to score strong points. However, Charles Leclerc will be required to put in a shift starting in P10.

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