Ferrari had a much better Sunday in Imola than Saturday, getting both cars home well into the points. Lewis Hamilton rose from 12th on the grid to fourth at the flag, with Charles Leclerc sixth. But having watched both cars exit in Q2 in Qualifying, team boss Fred Vasseur is under no illusions where their problems lie.
Bar that one astonishing pole for Hamilton in Sprint Qualifying back in China, one-lap pace has been an issue all year for the Scuderia. Leclerc has a best Qualifying result of third, while Hamilton’s best starting slot for a Grand Prix is fifth.
And while they both rose through the field at Imola, repeating that feat at Monaco this weekend will be a much taller order, given the difficulty of overtaking in the Principality.
“The issue is that we were much slower in quali yesterday, and then we start from P11 to P12. The weekend is difficult, but the recovery is good. Today was a good race with a very good strategy, well executed, good pit stops,” explained Vasseur.
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“Everything went well. I think Charles [Leclerc] was a bit unlucky with the timing of the Safety Car, but nothing that we can do. In the end, we have just to improve on the quali pace, because when you start at P11 and P12, it’s much more difficult.”
Hamilton’s race was made by a long first stint on the hard tyre, while Leclerc started on the mediums – the team again asked their drivers to work together when they ended up running line astern. This time there was no confusion with any team orders as there was in Miami, although Leclerc did nearly fall foul of the stewards.
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He was battling Alex Albon late on when the Williams driver had fresher tyres, and as Albon tried to overtake he wound up in the gravel. Leclerc felt he had left room, but with the stewards potentially about to investigate, the team ordered the Monegasque driver to cede the position to avoid picking up a time penalty.
“We were clearly at risk. With five seconds, Charles would have been 10th or 11th. We had the feeling that they were more going in the direction of the penalty,” Vasseur added.
“That’s why we asked him to swap. I was a bit surprised with the fact that we had more overtaking than expected. When it’s difficult and you have almost only one corner to overtake, it’s a bit all-in on this one.”
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But before the race, both Ferrari drivers were complaining about braking issues throughout practice before the disappointing Qualifying session. And Vasseur pulled no punches in his assessment of where the Scuderia are.
“I don’t think that we have the best car. Even when we are in good shape in the race, we are not faster than the McLaren. We are there, probably, but not fast enough. What is clear is that over the last three or four races, we have always had a much better pace in the race than in qualifying.
“There is a bit of frustration for us. For sure, we need to put all our effort on this. Next weekend, Monaco, on Saturday evening, it will be almost done.
«We have to [have] much more performance on Saturday. Monaco is probably a bit different on tyre management. We have to do a much better job on Saturday next week.”