Fred Vasseur seeks silver lining as Ferrari sinks after "very robust" Brazil double DNF

Ferrari crew principal Fred Vasseur has recognized the positives after a disastrous weekend in Brazil left the Maranello outfit overtaken by each Mercedes and Crimson Bull within the constructors’ standings.

The weekend began with Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualifying in P8 and P11 for the dash race, respectively. Whereas each had been capable of end the dash within the factors, bringing house six factors for the crew with P5 and P7 finishes, Mercedes scored P2 and P3 finishes. The Brackley outfit’s 13 factors put it forward of Ferrari within the championship earlier than the grand prix even started.

Hamilton suffered a Q2 elimination within the grand prix qualifying, leaving the seven-time champion with a P13 begin. His team-mate Leclerc, alternatively, managed a P3 begin. Nevertheless, Ferrari’s weekend went from dangerous to worse because the Brazil Grand Prix led to a double DNF when Leclerc suffered a conflict with Andrea Kimi Antonelli as a knock-on impact of contact with Oscar Piastri, and Hamilton retired as a consequence of injury from early collisions with Carlos Sainz and Franco Colapinto. Consequently, Crimson Bull overtook Ferrari within the standings.

“After a day like this, you need to have a look at what had been the positives from the weekend, even whether it is troublesome to seek out any when the season is coming to an finish and you’ve got a double DNF: in dash qualifying we obtained an honest end result, within the dash race the tempo was good and qualifying went nicely with Charles,” Vasseur defined within the Ferrari debrief.

“It has been a really robust Sunday. I had the sensation that, at the very least with Charles, we had been in a great place however we paid the value for a collision between Antonelli and Piastri, which could be very harsh for him and the crew. He was in the proper place, he was P2 after which he was out.

“It is disappointing, as a result of he was ready the place he may have fought for P1 or at the very least the rostrum. In a state of affairs like this, not solely are you dropping factors, however you’re additionally giving factors to the others.

Lewis Hamilton, Ferrari

Picture by: Zak Mauger / LAT Photos through Getty Photos

“With Lewis, he misplaced an enormous quantity of downforce, both from the crash with Sainz or when he ended up with the entrance wing beneath the ground or from each incidents. Lewis had good tempo, however you can’t come again after two crashes. Calling him to retire was logical, as he was final and lacking 30 to 40 factors of downforce on the automobile.

“So, we served the penalty after which retired the automobile. It is extremely troublesome to attract conclusions from this weekend due to the best way it ended. We recovered nicely after a difficult begin on Friday, however this result’s a disgrace for us, a disgrace for the championship struggle, however we now will now head house to Maranello and put together in addition to attainable for the ultimate triple-header of the 12 months.”

Now P4 within the constructors’ standings, Ferrari sits 4 factors behind Crimson Bull in P3 and 36 factors behind Mercedes in P2.

Photographs from Sao Paulo GP – Race

Lando Norris, McLaren