Vasseur cautions: Ferrari ‘won’t find a bullet for five tenths’

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has urged for caution despite the side’s victory in Singapore, citing it “won’t find a bullet for four, five tenths” to regularly challenge Red Bull.

After beginning the latest regulation cycle with the best package on the grid, Ferrari has progressively regressed to third in the Constructors’ Championship this term.

The Italian outfit has endured trouble getting on top of a problematic SF-23 car, throughout the season, particularly at high-downforce venues on the calendar.

Having excelled at Monza, both Ferrari drivers were anticipating a more troublesome weekend at the technically challenging Marina Bay Circuit in Singapore.

However, amid Red Bull’s unexpected slump, Carlos Sainz surged to a second consecutive pole position and controlled the race to claim Ferrari’s first victory since July last year.

Asked to explain Ferrari’s contrast in form, Vasseur said: “For sure it’s difficult to compare with Zandvoort to imagine that we would be in such good shape in Singapore, but I think it’s also linked to the fact we had a good weekend in Monza.

“From Lap 1 FP1 we build up the confidence in Monza and Singapore is also the consequence of this one. The fact that we also have Carlos so quick at the beginning of the weekend was also very helpful for us, and he did a very good job from the first lap to the last one.”

 

Sainz acknowledged that Ferrari’s extensive testing throughout practice at the Dutch Grand Prix had enabled it to make a breakthrough with its capricious 2023 car.

But Vasseur has downplayed the significance of Ferrari’s Singapore triumph, admitting the Maranello camp still requires a big step to regularly compete for victories – one that won’t materialise overnight.

“I think we have to stay calm,” the Frenchman declared. “When we had a tough [run it was important] to not draw conclusions that racing is going badly and that we have to change, and it’s not that after two weekends we are World Champion.

“We have to stay calm, we need to keep the same approach, try to develop step by step, but there is nothing magic in this business and you won’t find a bullet for four, five tenths, in that if you want to find a step you have to do a lot of small steps.

“And I think it’s what I’ve appreciated into the direction of the team after the tough weekend, and also into the confidence, because I think it was probably in Zandvoort we unlocked something on the understanding of the set-up and we build up the pace of Monza, part of this in Zandvoort, and probably a large part of the pace this weekend.”

However, the ex-Alfa Romeo team boss is optimistic that Ferrari will not get wrong-footed in the same manner Mercedes did last year by a strong end to the campaign.

The German marque elected to retain its ‘zeropod’ concept after claiming victory at the penultimate round of 2022 but decided to abolish the solution one round into this year.

Ferrari Technical Director Enrico Cardile has already confirmed the team is working on a “brand new” car philosophy for next season.

“I prefer to do good results than bad results,” Vasseur added. “For sure, this will help for the future, it’s a better understanding of the car, a better understanding of the set-up of the car, but mainly a step forward in terms of confidence for everybody and this is the best way to prepare for the future.”