Ferrari has been the 2024 season’s second-best workforce to date, however did not dwell as much as these expectations eventually weekend’s Shanghai occasion.
Having had no less than one driver on the rostrum throughout the primary 4 races, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz solely certified sixth and seventh respectively, six-tenths off Max Verstappen.
The pair managed to maneuver forward of Mercedes’ George Russell and Aston Martin man Fernando Alonso to complete fourth and fifth, however nonetheless fell properly in need of difficult McLaren’s Lando Norris, who convincingly grabbed second.
Group principal Vasseur mentioned his workforce “made too many errors” attempting to optimise its package deal for the difficult Shanghai circuit and its uncommon tarmac coating, which led to being behind the curve in qualifying.
“I feel it is actually a matter of placing all the pieces collectively,” Vasseur defined. “We did not have a clear weekend on our aspect, however we made collectively too many errors.
“On this group, should you do not do the proper job you will not be in entrance. We now have a pack with six or seven vehicles in one-tenth in qualifying. That signifies that resulting from particulars you possibly can transfer from hero to zero.”
Frederic Vasseur, Group Principal and Common Supervisor, Scuderia Ferrari
Photograph by: Ferrari
Each Ferraris initially misplaced positions to Russell – and briefly Haas’ Nico Hulkenberg – initially as they struggled for grip, which made their restoration tougher than it wanted to be.
A mid-race security automotive additional difficult issues for Sainz as he had already made his one pitstop for laborious tyres, giving him a tyre-life drawback towards the vehicles round him.
However Vasseur identified each Ferraris struggled extra on the laborious compound than on the mediums that they had began the race on, which is an space to analyze.
“I feel if we misplaced one thing, it is extra on the final stint. Carlos was a bit unfortunate with the timing of the pitstop, as a result of he pitted three or 4 laps earlier than the protection automotive,” the Frenchman mentioned.
“He was a bit scared to do a really lengthy stint with the final set of laborious and he was a bit conservative initially, however he did very properly to handle the lengthy stint.
“We had been a bit much less performant on the laborious than on the medium. We had been in a superb place on the finish of the stint of medium, however we misplaced floor on the laborious.”
Shanghai’s difficult floor situation, paired with the dash format’s restricted observe time, might have tripped Ferrari up, however Vasseur did not wish to name in excuses.
“It is extra a matter of extracting the most effective of what we’ve, and we did not do the job on this,” he admitted.
“It was very obscure the tarmac, additionally as a result of format. This may make a distinction in the long run as a result of we’re talking about one-tenth, we’re not talking about half a second.
“However this can’t be an excuse. It is the identical for everyone and a few groups managed it higher than others. We now have to know if we will do a greater job with the preparation.”