Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur unbothered by Red Bull dominating pre-season testing
The 54-year-old is content with the running completed by Ferrari over the three days of testing.
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Fred Vasseur
The 2023 Formula 1 Pre-season test is over. Reigning champions Red Bull Racing have set the benchmark with the eye-catching RB19. However, the arch-rival Ferrari has not paid much attention to the timesheets. Team Principal Fred Vasseur has expressed the Italian F1 team’s contentment with its three days of running, without delving deep into the pace of the Austrian team.
The Frenchman stated Ferrari’s satisfaction regarding the test. The 54-year-old said, “Overall, I think that we can be happy with the test that we did.” Moreover, Fred Vasseur talked about the lack of true comparison of SF23’s pace with its rivals. He explained, “I think overall the car looks okay performance-wise, but we don’t know about the level of fuel of the others.”
The Ferrari boss quickly dismissed the concerns of Max Verstappen leading the pack in 2023 after lapping the fastest in testing. Vasseur stated, “I don’t remember who did the fastest lap time last year in Bahrain, but he was not on pole position for the race.” Moreover, Fred Vassuer mentioned the true indication of the pecking order to be vastly different from testing. He continued, “you know that the feature of today [at the test] is completely different to the picture of next week.”
“We did a good job,” Fred Vasseur on Ferrari’s running at Pre-season testing
The 54-year-old stated the objectives achieved by the Scuderia in Bahrain. Fred Vasseur said, “The most important is to tick the boxes that you have to tick, and honestly, on this, we did a good job.” Subsequently, the Frenchman ruled out any signs of analyzing the timesheet to get a hint of the pace of other teams. He continued, “If you start the test just to have a look on the level of performance of the team, you are dead.”
Consequently, Fred Vassuer mentioned that such a mindset would force a team to react to the timesheet’s pecking order. He explained, “because then you will react and function based on the timesheet.” Lastly, the Ferrari team boss clarified that the grid would look completely different at the F1 season opener in Bahrain. A race won by Charles Leclerc last season. He concluded, “the picture will be completely different to this one [at the test].”
Scuderia Ferrari is focusing on its goals for the 2023 season. Maranello will not judge its position compared to Red Bull by the laps times achieved in the test. The Austrian team has raised eyebrows with its RB19, an evolution of the 2022 title-winning F1 car. But as of now, Fred Vasseur looks to wait till the first round of the season in Bahrain to understand Ferrari’s place in the pecking order.
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Armaan Agarwal
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