Ferrari had a difficult weekend in Melbourne, with a messy qualifying and disappointing race in which the team ultimately failed to score points.
Despite the frustration, team principal Frédéric Vasseur chose to focus on the positives, particularly in regards to the pace and overall performance of the car, which has been largely underwhelming since the season opener in Bahrain last month.
“There are positives,” Vasseur told the media post-race. “If you look at the whole weekend, [Saturday] we were disappointed with the result, but the level of performance was there, we just didn’t put everything together.”
“But [on Sunday] the pace was good. We had to do an extra pit stop, but I accept this, and the pace was okay. It is a step forward from two weeks ago in Jeddah, and now we have to do another step forward for Baku.”
“Even if you compensate for the extra pit stop for Carlos, he was pushing on the tyres, but the [degradation] was okay and at the end we were fighting on a good lap time. It’s an important step for us.”
“Overall, I think the mood is positive, because we did a mega step forward in terms of performance in the race, and we will build up the rest of the season on this. I will be positive and I will push again and again.”
With upgrades in the pipeline, Ferrari is keen to leave the disappointment of the Australian GP behind in favour of shifting their focus to the upcoming race in Baku, the first of six planned sprint weekends this season.
“Baku is a sprint race, so it’s a bit different, but we will have updates all over the season. Let’s prepare for the weekend and don’t think about damage.”
Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari
