Vasseur laments elusive podium for Ferrari at Monza: “Magical” for the fans

The Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, expressed his disappointment at not being able to offer a podium to the team’s fans at the Italian Grand Prix last Sunday. Despite showing a promising pace in practice at Monza, Charles Leclerc qualified and finished in fourth place in Ferrari’s home race. Lewis Hamilton, for his part, managed to move up from tenth position on the grid to sixth, despite a five-place penalty. Leclerc crossed the finish line four seconds behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, who took third place, but 25 seconds behind the race winner, Max Verstappen.

“I think it’s a shame today and I’m disappointed not to be able to offer a podium to the Tifosi, because when you see the fans on the starting and finishing line and on the podium, it would have been magical and they deserve it,” declared Vasseur.

Fred Vasseur

Vasseur also highlighted the closeness with McLaren: “But I think we are close to McLaren today. It’s probably the smallest gap of the season. I think Max was exceptional. From the first lap to the last, he was there, flying and was much faster than us. But overall, I think compared to Mercedes and McLaren, we did our job. It’s not enough, but we did our job.”

Vasseur emphasized that the margins were tight throughout the weekend, not just in practice. “I think we’re a tenth off the front row [of the grid] yesterday. Even if you play differently with engine modes, fuel and so on [in practice], we’re talking about 3-4 kilos of fuel, we never know this. But it’s also true that even in the race it’s the smallest gap with McLaren, it was also the smallest gap in FP3, the smallest gap in qualifying, in FP1, and I think we’re in better shape this weekend. It’s not enough because they’re ahead of us, but I think we at least shortened the gap this weekend.”