Vasseur says bringing upgrade to a sprint race was “difficult” but justified

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur says the team made the right decision to introduce its suspension upgrade this weekend despite only having a single practice session to evaluate it.

However he acknowledged that the limited practice time available during a sprint race weekend did complicate their efforts to test their rear suspension upgrade.

“For sure it’s a bit more difficult,” Vasseur told the official F1 channel, “but on the other hand it’s also a good preparation for next weekend. If you postpone, you postpone all your life.”

As well as having less time available to practice, teams do shorter runs. “The fact that you are not doing long stints in the free practice and so on is difficult for the adaptation,” he said.

“But on the other hand, we had to do it and we’ve made decent steps forward so far. It means that if we are able to put everything together tomorrow and to do a good result, it will be also a good reward for the team, for everybody at the factory and the best way to prepare [for] next week.”

Charles Leclerc took third on the grid for the grand prix with the upgrade, pipping Max Verstappen’s Red Bull with his final run. Lewis Hamilton could only manage 16th after having a lap time deleted due to a track limits infringement.

Vasseur said Leclerc’s performance showed they had made an improvement with their upgrade. “We are improving a little bit on the set-up of the car and I think it was also a very good lap from his side,” he said. “But McLaren is still a step ahead.”

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Hamilton has endured a frustrating weekend, having also been eliminated in the first round of qualifying for the sprint race. But Vasseur is confident he can match his team mate’s performance.

“He was able to have the same pace as Charles in Q1. Track limits are [about] a couple of millimetres but the rule is the rule and the lap time was deleted. But it’s not a matter of pace or adaptation. I think he was able to do the job.”

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