Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur downplayed the team’s strategic miscall amid a difficult debut for Lewis Hamilton in red at the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Both Hamilton and team-mate Charles Leclerc struggled in the mixed conditions at Albert Park, the former more so as he claimed on Saturday he didn’t even know the wet settings for his Ferrari SF-25.
Hamilton recounted post-race that he was “grateful” to even keep his Ferrari out of the wall during a 57-lap chaos-fuelled Melbourne melee that saw him lead at one stage with Leclerc also surging into the top three.
That was due to Ferrari staying out longer than its rivals when rain fell on Lap 44 and prolonging a switch to Inters for several laps proved ultimately costly as Hamilton and Leclerc emerged in ninth and 10th.
By the time the chequered flag fell, Leclerc recovered to eighth while Hamilton came home with a solitary point but Vasseur wasn’t too downbeat with the strategy misfire.
“It was a strange situation because Sector 1 and 2 were still dry and Sector 3 was wet,” Vasseur told select media including Motorsport Week post-race.
“It was a kind of bet…we bet on the fact we have to stay on track and wait for the last part of the race with slicks.
“When Mercedes and McLaren pitted two laps before, we went at the wrong time, the best option was to pit on the same lap as Max [Verstappen] and we made the wrong call.”
Vasseur unfazed by Hamilton radio exchanges
Hamilton was also concerned over team radio that Ferrari misjudged the severity of the incoming rain with its forecast, which Vasseur was also asked to address.
“But this is very difficult…we don’t have a sense of the rain, it is more of a feeling and what we can see on the screen and have on the radar from corner to corner,” he said.
“We were all surprised about the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, to stay on track with the slicks and just survive at the end it is easy to say it was the wrong call.”
Another curious exchange throughout the race was the communication between Hamilton and his new Race Engineer Riccardo Adami.
Adami, keen to help Hamilton along, delivered consistent information over the Team Radio only for Hamilton to ask to be left to his own devices.
Hamilton praised Adami post-race, citing the learning process the duo is on, and Vasseur acknowledged this process is in its infancy.
“It was the first race, the first time that we have to communicate between the pitwall and the car,” he said.
“We can do a better job and know each other more, for sure it was not a clean one at all, the strategy was difficult and we need to find a better way to communicate between the car and the pitwall but we will learn from race one and it is not an issue.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton ‘grateful’ to keep Ferrari out of the wall in treacherous Australian GP
