‘I prefer to be second than fourth’ – Vasseur bullish as Ferrari jump Mercedes and Red Bull in the standings

Fred Vasseur watched Charles Leclerc climb up from seventh on the grid to third at the flag in Spain, the Monegasque driver sealing back-to-back podiums for Ferrari. With Lewis Hamilton finishing sixth, the Scuderia scored enough points to jump to second in the standings – but there is still work to do.

While Vasseur was keen to emphasise that second is definitely an improvement from their earlier results this season, he did sound a note of caution given how far ahead McLaren remain not just in the standings, but on the racetrack as well.

“I prefer to be second than fourth or fifth,” he said. “Honestly, if you have a look, we were 50 or 60 points behind Mercedes and Red Bull after China, when we were disqualified, and now we are in front of them.

“I think that over the last four or five events, we did a decent job. But we also have to keep in mind that we are [here] because we want to win races, but we don’t want to be P2.

2025 Spanish Grand Prix: Verstappen loses out to Leclerc on the Safety Car restart

“It means that we have to be focused on McLaren. I’m not speaking about the championship, but I’m speaking about pace. I think today we are not that far away with the pace on the first 40 laps.”

Ferrari ran different strategies in Spain, with Leclerc holding onto two new sets of medium tyres for the Grand Prix. He also had a reasonably fresh set of softs that had only completed an out-lap and an in-lap, putting him at an advantage over his team mate.

Lewis Hamilton had used more softs in Qualifying, and thus was on the back foot in the race compared to his team mate – and was further disadvantaged by a car issue. All of which combined meant the team opted to swap their drivers on track in the early stages, with Leclerc more than paying them back by scoring that podium.

Hamilton reportedly called the race a “disaster” afterwards to some of the media, but Vasseur was keen to dispel any potential discord between team and driver for the second race in a row.

Hamilton downbeat after dropping to P6 late on in Spanish GP

“I think [Hamilton] did 70% of the race in front of [George] Russell. I’m not sure that Russell said that the race was a disaster, but then we had an issue on the car in the last [stint], before the Safety Car, and the result is not good, but he did 45 laps in front of Russell.”

The big talking point of the race was the restart chaos, which began with Leclerc overtaking Max Verstappen. The two touched on the straight, with the stewards investigating but opting to take no further action – a decision Vasseur agreed with.

“I even didn’t notice that there was an incident, honestly, then with Sky Sports, we tried to have a look on the steering wheel position on the straight, and it was at zero. It’s not an incident.

“Now I can understand that [Red Bull] are upset after the last two or three laps of the race, but it’s nothing to do with Charles.”

The end result means that Leclerc has three podiums this season, while Hamilton’s best result remains his P4 in Imola – plus his pole and win in the Sprint in China.

Ferrari sit six points ahead of Mercedes in the standings, but McLaren have cantered further away – their lead in the Team’s Championship now a mighty 197 points.