Ferrari failed to extend its streak of podium finishes last weekend in China.
While in the first four races of this season at least one of the Ferrari drivers always managed to get on the podium, in China the successful series of the Italian stable ended when Charles Leclerc finished fourth and Carlos Sainz fifth.
According to Maranello team boss Frédéric Vasseur, the not very good performance of his team in Shanghai was mainly due to the mistakes the team made during the weekend. Among other things, these included the unsuccessful optimization of the car in an attempt to cope with the atypical surface at the circuit in China, where F1 returned after five years.
“It was about putting everything together but we made too many mistakes as a team. The way it is now is that if you don’t do a perfect job, you can’t be at the front… In qualifying there were about six or seven cars lined up in one tenth. This means that one detail is enough and you are a zero from a hero,” said Vasseur, quoted by Autosport.
Ferrari in China was also troubled by the fact that its drivers were not very competitive on the hard set of tyres.
“We had a worse performance on the hard set than on the medium hard set. At the end of the stint we did on medium hard tires we were in a good position but then we lost. It’s always necessary to get the best out of what we have, but in this case we didn’t succeed,” acknowledged the Frenchman.
“It was very difficult to understand the asphalt on which we were driving – also because of the format of the weekend (it was a race with a sprint, when there is less practice, editor’s note). This can ultimately make a big difference if we are talking about one tenth of a second. But that’s no excuse because it was the same for all teams and some did better than us. We have to look at how we can do a better job of preparation next time,” concluded Vasseur.
