Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has revealed that the team’s complete margin to the pole position time at the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix came in the opening turn.
The Italian marque’s morale-sapping opening to the ongoing campaign appears poised to continue in Jeddah as its two drivers qualified in fourth and seventh places.
Charles Leclerc led Ferrari’s charge with a five-tenth gap to a struggling Lewis Hamilton, but he propped up more than three tenths behind pole-sitter Max Verstappen.
The Monegasque was despondent as he admitted concern that Ferrari’s pace shortage to the side’s leading rivals has remained unchanged even with recent updates.
However, Vasseur adopted a more optimistic stance on Ferrari’s prospects as he highlighted that the team’s SF-25 car has tended to be more competitive in race trim.
“You can always do a better job and do more, but it’s true that since the beginning of the weekend in Turn 1 we lose a lot,” Vasseur told Sky Italy.
“I think we are three-tenths off the pole time and we lose three-tenths in Turn 1. But it went the way it went, we have to concentrate on the race.
“So far over the long distance we have had a good pace, even though we couldn’t test yesterday because of the red flag.
“But since the start of the season we have been better over the long distance than on the dry lap, so anything is possible tomorrow.”
Ferrari’s unsolved Jeddah conundrum
Leclerc matched Verstappen’s pole run in the Red Bull across the second and third sectors, providing credence to Vasseur’s claim about where Ferrari ended up short.
The Frenchman suggested that the Maranello-based squad was unable to locate the ideal compromise on the preparation lap to place the tyres in the correct window.
Asked whether Ferrari’s persistent Turn 1 issue was temperature or grip-related, Vasseur responded: “We will see tomorrow over the long distance when it stabilises.
“But it’s true that all weekend we struggle in Turn 1.
“If you push a little too hard in the out lap you struggle to finish the lap, if you don’t push hard enough you struggle in Turns 1 and 2.
“It’s a very fine balance to find and we struggled a lot in Turn 1.”
Vasseur insists Ferrari has untapped potential
But while Leclerc vowed that he extracted the maximum from the car on his single Q3 run, Vasseur has continued to insist that Ferrari’s SF-25 has untapped potential.
“I’m disappointed because we’re not three tenths off pole position and I have the feeling we didn’t manage to put it all together this weekend,” he rued.
“So it’s a bit frustrating, but the race is on Sunday and in Jeddah you can overtake.
“But it’s true that from weekend to weekend the situation totally reverses. Verstappen in Japan won, then in Bahrain he suffered and now he is back in front.
“That means consistency is hard to find for us and for the others, maybe for McLaren a little less, but that’s the picture.”
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