Team principal Fred Vasseur has opened up about Charles Leclerc’s unexpected pace and Lewis Hamilton’s sudden drop in performance at the F1 Chinese GP as the Ferrari duo took the chequered flag in fifth and sixth place respectively on Sunday.
Although he bounced back from his poor showing in Melbourne in a stellar fashion to convert his first Sprint pole to victory on Saturday, Hamilton struggled significantly with the balance of the SF-25 on Sunday and finished the race in sixth position.
Meanwhile, after lacking confidence in the car earlier in the weekend, Leclerc set some rapid lap times during Sunday’s race and came home in P5 ahead of his teammate despite running with a damaged front wing for the entirety of 56 laps.
Unfortunately, both Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified from Sunday’s Chinese GP after their cars failed separate post-race scrutineering checks.
Changing behaviour of tyres and set-up choices responsible for fluctuating performance
Speaking in a print media session before the double disqualification became official, Vasseur addressed the dip in performance that Hamilton experienced at the F1 Chinese GP on Sunday after his comfortable victory in the Sprint race.
The Frenchman explained that all teams are struggling to maintain their consistency from one session to another due to the unpredictable behaviour of the Pirelli rubber and difficulties pertaining to set-up directions.
“Yeah, I think that you could probably ask the same question to everybody on the grid. I think it’s quite difficult to understand the move from one day to the other one, this session to the other one.
“[Oscar] Piastri yesterday lost 7 seconds in the last two or three laps [of the Sprint race] to Lewis [Hamilton] and Max [Verstappen] was nowhere yesterday; he was struggling on the first stint. [On Sunday], he was back.
“I think we are all on the edge with the tyres, and for set-up reasons or whatever, that you struggle much more from one session to the other one.”
Ferrari surprised by Leclerc’s pace with a damaged front wing
Despite losing his left-side endplate after clipping Hamilton’s right rear at the start of the race, Leclerc went on to drive with a damaged front wing for the entirety of the race distance in Shanghai.
When asked to shed more light on how the Monégasque driver managed to bring home a respectable result in the aftermath of the incident, Vasseur confessed that Ferrari have yet to evaluate how Leclerc was able to maintain his solid pace during the F1 Chinese GP.
Emphasising the considerable loss of downforce from the damage, the 56-year-old stated that they were pleased with the outcome of the race. Nonetheless, noting that the eight-time race winner wasn’t taken aback by the lap times he generated, Vasseur added that the Italian outfit is intent on understanding the factors that allowed Leclerc to sustain his surprisingly strong pace on Sunday.
“Yeah, it’s very strange. And we didn’t have time so far to understand exactly the picture. But it’s true that the pace from Charles [Leclerc], considering the [damage was strange]. I was discussing with Charles for the first time 2 minutes ago.
“If you consider the loss of downforce that we had with the front wing, I think that overall we could be satisfied with the result, the performance and so.
“But we need to understand exactly what’s happened, because honestly, we were surprised with the pace of Charles during the race. And I think he wasn’t.”
Vasseur refuses to draw early conclusions regarding Ferrari’s struggles in qualifying
In terms of Ferrari struggling over a single lap and performing better on Sunday last season and whether they are experiencing a similar issue this year, Vasseur dismissed the premise and highlighted Hamilton’s robust qualifying and race pace earlier in the weekend at the F1 Chinese GP.
Reiterating that he is hesitant to draw any early conclusions, the Frenchman commented on how drivers are experiencing variations in their performance from one stint to another regardless of the team they race for.
“Don’t draw this kind of conclusion. Lewis did the [Sprint] pole position yesterday and he was able to stay in front [in the Sprint race]. And the race pace and qualifying pace were, I think, similar.
“And honestly, I would avoid drawing a conclusion so early. If you have a look at one stint or the other one, it’s not the same picture. I think [George] Russell was struggling much more on the first stint than on the second one [in the Sprint race].”
