Fred Vasseur confident Ferrari can compete with Red Bull this year “if SF-24 development goes well”. With good development of the SF-24, Ferrari could have the opportunity to compete with Red Bull.

A bitter fourth place and a first podium is what Ferrari took home from the season opener at the Bahrain Grand Prix. Carlos Sainz was the first and only one to chase the only Red Bull truly in contention with the others, that of Sergio Perez, while Charles Leclerc finished just off the podium, dealing with significant brake issues.

After the Sakhir race, Frédéric Vasseur spoke to Sky Sport F1 to comment on the first of the 24 Formula 1 races scheduled for this season, with Ferrari clearly being the second force, even though they had to express partial potential considering the issues faced by Charles Leclerc’s SF-24 number 16.

Fred Vasseur, are you satisfied with today’s result?
“We were expecting something better; we’re not satisfied. But with what happened in the race, given the circumstances, all in all, we brought home a good result. We didn’t expect to have these brake problems that greatly penalized Leclerc’s race in the first half. Sainz made a good comeback, managing to fight with Perez.”

You chose a different tire strategy from Red Bull during the race…
“We knew in advance that they would have two sets of Soft and one of Hard to use in the race while we had 2 sets of Hard. The goal was to put some pressure on Perez, and in the end, we were slightly faster than him, but it wasn’t enough. However, we finished 2.5 seconds from him, so overall, it wasn’t bad. Carlos didn’t start very well, but then he fought and managed to find a good position on the track. For Charles, it was a difficult race, but overall, I think he did a good job bringing home fourth place under those conditions.”

Only Max Verstappen seemed unreachable…
“I think Verstappen was in a position to have an advantage that allowed him to do a very fast lap and then a conservative one to manage the engine and tires. But overall, over the 57 laps, he had about twenty seconds of advantage on the first pursuers. Surely, it went better compared to last year, but it’s also true that we are always 4-5 tenths slower than him, so we need to grow.”

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Do you think Ferrari could have a better chance to compete with Red Bull in Jeddah?
“Jeddah will be a very different race. The asphalt is very different, there will be zero degradation, the asphalt is very smooth, we will use the softest tires made by Pirelli, and we all start from zero. It’s clear that if we look at the gap from first to tenth, the gap has decreased by 50%, which means that strategically it will be much more difficult to manage because when you come out of the pits, you are in a much more backward position and in traffic. Everything is very different. We are up to expectations in the single lap, and in the race, we have recovered ground. There is still work to do, but it’s a good start.”

What do you think of Charles Leclerc’s race?
“Honestly, I believe Leclerc had a good race. Of course, it’s difficult to judge when you start second and finish fourth. But given the circumstances and the problems with the brakes, we can say that he had an excellent race, because anyway, he finished ahead of McLaren and Mercedes. There are races where you have problems, but if you manage to mitigate them in this way, it’s very good.”

Do you think, without the brake problems that slowed him down throughout the race, Charles Leclerc could have fought for second place with Perez?
“It’s hard to know if Charles could have fought for second place, but maybe having the same pace as Carlos, starting further ahead, I think he would have had his chances. He lost a lot of time because of the problem he had. The brakes lost temperature, and we don’t know what happened. We told Charles to stay close to those in front of him to regain temperature.”

Surely, compared to last year, you’ve made a good step forward. Do you think it’s possible to compete with Red Bull over the season?
“We have to be clear. We didn’t start as well as Red Bull, but compared to last year, we started well. Then, over last year, we improved a lot, and on some tracks, we were competing with them. If we manage to develop as we did in 2023, then it will be possible to compete.”