Fred Vasseur believes the Hungarian Grand Prix may swimsuit Ferrari and the SF-26 higher than Spa-Francorchamps, however the workforce principal has warned {that a} extra beneficial circuit doesn’t assure victory. Following consecutive podium finishes at Silverstone and Spa, Ferrari look like having fun with one among their strongest intervals of the season, but Fred Vasseur stays decided to manage expectations and preserve the workforce targeted on execution.
The outcomes secured throughout the British and Belgian Grands Prix have additionally underlined the progress made by the SF-26 following Ferrari’s newest developments. Nonetheless, Fred Vasseur doesn’t need the workforce to develop into distracted by rising championship hypothesis or by assumptions that Budapest will mechanically present a better alternative.
Fred Vasseur refuses to debate Ferrari’s championship prospects
Fred Vasseur is sustaining the pragmatic strategy that has outlined his response to Ferrari’s latest enchancment. Regardless of the workforce accumulating main outcomes at two circuits the place it anticipated to battle, the Frenchman doesn’t need to focus on the World Championship and has urged everybody round Ferrari to maintain their ft firmly on the bottom.
“I don’t need to dream,” Fred Vasseur mentioned. “It is very important deal with the outcomes, so let’s instantly take into consideration the following race.”
His place stays in line with the warning Ferrari displayed earlier than Spa, when questions had been already being requested about whether or not the workforce had been intentionally enjoying down their championship ambitions or genuinely believed Mercedes nonetheless held the benefit.
Fred Vasseur recalled that Ferrari had approached the consecutive races at Silverstone and Spa with far more modest expectations. Each circuits appeared able to exposing areas by which the SF-26 remained weak, notably by way of their power-sensitive sections.
“After we arrived at Silverstone and Spa, we anticipated two troublesome weekends,” he defined. “We actually didn’t count on to have the ability to struggle for victory, contemplating the traits of the circuits and our technical state of affairs.”
These predictions had been partially confirmed by the aggressive order, though Ferrari’s last outcomes had been clearly higher than anticipated. The workforce maximised its alternatives, fought on the entrance and demonstrated that the SF-26 may stay aggressive even when the circuit structure didn’t seem notably beneficial.
“Ultimately, it went quite effectively,” Fred Vasseur continued. “We did a wonderful job and managed to struggle on the entrance.”
Charles Leclerc advantages from Digital Security Automotive timing at Spa
Charles Leclerc additionally lastly acquired a small quantity of excellent fortune in the course of the Belgian Grand Prix. The timing of the Digital Security Automotive helped the Ferrari driver strategically, permitting him to strengthen his place throughout a race by which the Scuderia had initially anticipated to be on the defensive.
“In the present day Charles was a little bit lucky with the Digital Security Automotive,” Fred Vasseur admitted. “After all the things that occurred up to now, this time it gave him one thing again. General, it was a superb end result for the whole workforce.”
The end result bolstered the encouraging race efficiency Ferrari produced regardless of the demanding energy-management and MGU-Ok problem at Spa. Charles Leclerc had additionally entered the weekend with measured expectations, explaining prematurely why Ferrari anticipated Spa-Francorchamps to be a troublesome take a look at for the SF-26.
Fred Vasseur calls Lewis Hamilton’s penalty extreme
One other main post-race matter was the penalty given to Lewis Hamilton following his contact in the course of the opening phases of the race. The Ferrari driver acquired a five-second sanction for the incident with George Russell, though Fred Vasseur believed the punishment was harsh.
“It was actually a extreme penalty,” the Ferrari workforce principal mentioned. “There have been a number of incidents on the primary lap and, in that state of affairs, I feel George Russell was already shifting in the direction of the left, so the contact was pretty inevitable. I don’t need to touch upon the choice. It occurred, and that’s all.”
Fred Vasseur supplied a distinct evaluation of the later incident involving Lewis Hamilton within the pit lane. On that event, he positioned duty firmly on Ferrari and cleared the seven-time World Champion of any wrongdoing.
“That second state of affairs was a workforce error,” Fred Vasseur defined. “The sunshine was inexperienced, and meaning Lewis had no duty. His place was right. It was our mistake.”
The admission displays the workforce principal’s willpower to differentiate between driver errors and operational failures. It additionally helps his wider message that Ferrari should enhance each a part of its weekend execution quite than relying solely on the underlying tempo of the SF-26.
Mercedes stay forward, however Ferrari can nonetheless struggle
When it comes to absolute efficiency, Fred Vasseur continues to treat Mercedes because the benchmark. Ferrari exceeded its personal expectations at each Silverstone and Spa, however the workforce principal acknowledged that Mercedes nonetheless possessed a small tempo benefit.
“Our predictions actually didn’t say that we’d be eight seconds slower,” Fred Vasseur mentioned. “We thought we’d lose round eight tenths on the straights and would due to this fact be behind Mercedes. It was the same state of affairs at Silverstone. The margin was not huge, however that they had one thing extra.”
Though that deficit stays, its comparatively restricted measurement means Ferrari can nonetheless problem when it executes the race successfully. Begins, tyre technique, pit-stop timing and altering circumstances can all compensate for a modest efficiency drawback.
“Even when they’re barely quicker, we will nonetheless struggle with them,” Fred Vasseur added. “A great technique, a superb begin and a few beneficial circumstances could make the distinction, simply as they did at Silverstone.”
Ferrari’s potential to stay aggressive on much less appropriate circuits is due to this fact a constructive signal, however Fred Vasseur doesn’t imagine it adjustments the basic must maximise each alternative. The workforce can’t afford avoidable penalties, operational errors or poor qualifying positions if Mercedes proceed to carry a small benefit in outright velocity.
Fred Vasseur expects Hungary to favour Ferrari greater than Spa
Looking forward to the Hungaroring, Fred Vasseur confirmed that the circuit ought to, not less than theoretically, be extra suitable with the traits of the SF-26. Budapest’s technical structure locations much less emphasis on lengthy straights than Spa, doubtlessly lowering the impact of one among Ferrari’s most seen weaknesses from the Belgian weekend.
“The subsequent circuit, on paper, seems to be barely extra beneficial for us,” Fred Vasseur mentioned. “However that completely doesn’t imply we are going to win.”
For the Ferrari workforce principal, execution will as soon as once more decide whether or not the Scuderia can convert a promising technical state of affairs into a robust end result. A circuit that seems beneficial earlier than the weekend can rapidly develop into troublesome if the workforce fails to optimise the automobile, qualify close to the entrance or handle the race cleanly.
“We should do a wonderful job and arrive fully targeted, with out pondering it will likely be straightforward, as a result of it is not going to be,” he warned. “We should attempt to work with the identical stage of high quality that we confirmed over the past two weeks, and, if attainable, do even higher.”
Ferrari’s fast precedence is a clear weekend in Budapest
Fred Vasseur can also be refusing to look too far into the long run. He doesn’t need to focus on the championship, place extreme expectations on future races or develop into distracted by hypothesis surrounding Ferrari’s anticipated engine improve. His fast goal is the Hungarian Grand Prix.
“Earlier than fascinated with what is going to come afterwards, let’s take into consideration Budapest, which on paper is a way more concrete goal,” Fred Vasseur mentioned. “Let’s attempt to put each automobiles in a superb place from qualifying in order that we will have a clear race, with out errors, with good execution and with out penalties.”
The emphasis on qualifying is very related on the Hungaroring, the place observe place will be extraordinarily helpful. Putting each Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton close to the entrance would give Ferrari larger strategic flexibility and cut back the necessity for both driver to take pointless dangers whereas trying to get better positions.
Mercedes’ Belgian Grand Prix weekend additionally offered an instance of how simply a promising end result can disappear, even when a workforce has a extremely aggressive automobile. Fred Vasseur pointed to George Russell’s race as proof that outright velocity alone doesn’t all the time decide the ultimate final result.
“The quickest automobile doesn’t essentially win each time,” he mentioned. “You solely have to take a look at Mercedes this weekend. George Russell had a wonderful automobile, however in the long run he didn’t even rating factors.”
For that cause, Fred Vasseur sees no want to alter Ferrari’s present philosophy. The workforce should keep away from both overestimating or underestimating its place and proceed concentrating on the standard of its personal work.
“We should not overestimate the state of affairs in both path,” Fred Vasseur concluded. “We must always suppose solely about ourselves and proceed doing high-quality work, simply as we’ve got performed over the past two weeks.”
Jul 19, 2026
Let different Scuderia Followers find out about us
