Team principal Fred Vasseur has addressed the double disqualification that Ferrari endured at the F1 Chinese GP after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton took the chequered flag in fifth and sixth place respectively on Sunday.
Although Hamilton secured his and Ferrari’s first Sprint pole and cruised to victory in the Sprint race on Saturday, the Maranello-based team failed to reproduce similar results for the remainder of the race weekend.
After struggling with the balance of the car, the seven-time world champion only managed a P6 finish on Sunday. Meanwhile, his teammate found more confidence in the SF-25 as the weekend progressed and set some encouraging lap times to come home in fifth place despite running with a damaged front wing for the entirety of the race.
Unfortunately, both Leclerc and Hamilton were disqualified from Sunday’s Chinese GP. While the Monégasque’s car failed to adhere to the minimum weight regulation, the Brit’s SF-25 suffered plank wear that exceeded the level stipulated by the FIA.
In an exclusive interview with the French newspaper L’Équipe, Vasseur shed more light on the factors that resulted in the disqualifications. He also offered justifications for their massive setback and explained why we should brace for similar outcomes in the future. Moreover, the Frenchman opened up about the media scrutiny and why they shouldn’t allow the off-track chatter to impact their performance.
Worn tyres not the sole cause of Leclerc’s disqualification
George Russell was disqualified from the Belgian GP last year for breaching the minimum weight limit after executing an audacious one-stop strategy and winning the race.
In terms of Leclerc’s disqualification following a similar pattern and whether there are steps a team can take to prevent a car from going underweight due to worn tyres, the Ferrari team boss clarified that one can always trace a weight-related disqualification back to multiple factors.
Vasseur explained that apart from the tyres, a malfunctioning drink tank had contributed to the additional weight loss that Leclerc’s car underwent during the F1 Chinese GP.
“It’s not just that. Tyres are only part of the explanation. We also lost a liter of water from Charles’s [Leclerc] leaking drink reservoir.
“The disqualification for weight is always a combination of many small factors.”
Vasseur says Hamilton’s disqualification is a by-product of their pursuit of perfection
Sunday’s event in Shanghai was unfortunately not the first occasion that saw both Hamilton and Leclerc face post-race disqualification. The current Ferrari duo endured the same fate at the United States GP in 2023 after their respective cars failed skid checks in parc fermé.
When asked about Ferrari cars falling short of the minimum weight requirements twice in three years under his leadership, Vasseur conceded that they were too audacious with the threshold of the regulations during the F1 Chinese GP.
Nonetheless, the 56-year-old offered a justification for Hamilton’s disqualification and remarked that such mishaps can occur when a team pushes to the very limit in order to extract the maximum potential of the car.
“We must have been too aggressive. That’s how it is. This setback demonstrates that we are in pursuit of perfection and that, sometimes, we look too far.
“The goal in F1 is to push the limits of all parameters, everywhere. To get to the last gram of weight, to get to the last tenth of a millimeter of the floor skid, to get to the last millimeter of wing deformation.”
F1 should brace for more disqualifications
With regard to whether F1 teams would witness more disqualifications in the future, Vasseur confidently responded in the affirmative. Nevertheless, he also asserted that one should maintain a firm distinction between those who surpass the limit in quest of innovation and those who intentionally violate the guidelines to gain an unfair advantage.
Furthermore, Vasseur underscored the competitive state of the grid this season and claimed that they are willing to take more risks to gain even a marginal advantage over their rivals.
“Yes, that’s for sure. You have to distinguish between disqualification for taking risks and disqualification for cheating.
“So it’s certain that the more pressure you’re under, the more intense the fight, the closer you need to get to those limits and the more risks you take.”
Why Ferrari shouldn’t be impacted by media scrutiny
Emphasising the burgeoning nature of the sport and the relentless media exposure that comes with it, Vasseur stated that Ferrari are not unsettled by the criticisms they have received in the aftermath of the F1 Chinese GP.
The Frenchman further elaborated that their objective is to allow neither the acclamations nor the reprovals to influence their performance on and off the track.
“When you’re in a sport so exposed, you know you’ll be confronted with it.
“We received quite a few criticisms after the weekend in China. It’s part of the game. Formula 1 is a hyper-mediatized sport.
“You have to accept being applauded, which is pleasant; but also being criticised. That’s the law.
“My only concern is that this excitement does not harm our work or our performances.”
