Frederic Vasseur admits Ferrari’s fearsome approach as tire degradation hampers their British Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz finished the British Grand Prix in P9 and P10 respectively.

Frederic Vasseur admits Ferrari’s fearsome approach as tire degradation hampers their British Grand Prix

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur (Image credit: The Telegraph)

Ferrari’s team principal, Frederic Vasseur, expressed evident disappointment with the results of the 2023 F1 British GP. The performances of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz led them to secure the ninth and tenth positions, respectively. These rankings fell considerably below the high expectations set by the Italian team. Vasseur attributed Sunday’s failure to the lack of tire information received on Friday.

While talking to the media, Vasseur mentioned that Ferrari hadn’t conducted a lengthy stint on Friday practice and had only utilized the Soft compound. He also mentioned Charles Leclerc being stuck in the garage as he suffered a mechanical issue in FP2. He also mentioned that they were too careful with tire management and didn’t push hard enough, possibly because of their performance in previous races.

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“I think we didn’t do a long stint on Friday, we launched onto only the Soft compound and Charles was stuck in the garage,” the Frenchman explained. “Somewhere in the mind where the first races of the season, but we were far too conservative with the tyre management and we didn’t push enough,” he continued

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Also read: After taking the fight to one of the Ferraris at the British GP, George Russell claims the Monegasque did ‘questionable defending’ on his part

Frederic attributes Ferrari’s misfortune to untimely Safety car at Silverstone

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc driving their SF-23s at the 2023 British Grand Prix (Image credit: Motorsport.com)

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz started strongly, securing fourth and fifth place in qualifying. However, their positions deteriorated during the race, finishing ninth and tenth. Their misfortune was compounded by their early pit stops, which occurred just before a timely safety car intervention, granting their competitors the advantage of cheap pit stops. Leclerc and Sainz both finished behind Alex Albon’s Williams, who crossed the line in P8.

Frederic Vasseur mentioned that they had no control over the Safety car. He also stressed the importance of concentrating on things under their power instead of worrying about external factors. The team boss spoke about their fight with Russell and their initial thoughts of beating him. However, they soon realized the need to extend and push more on the tires.

“We were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car, but this is not in our hands,” Vasseur said. “We were fighting with Russell, but now after the race, it is quite easy to say that we will have to extend and push more on the tyres,” he stated.

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