“I’m used [to it] because the last two years we started like this,” Vasseur joked when asked how challenging the start to the year had been.
“For sure it is not ideal and I would prefer to win the first one. But we don’t need to change the approach from last year as we are almost in the same situation, perhaps a bit worse in terms of pace, and the reaction of the team was very, very strong.
“We worked as a team, made small step by small step and we have to keep exactly the same approach, but for sure it is not ideal.”
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With the double disqualification in China still fresh in the mind, Ferrari trail behind their rival teams in the Championship. In Grands Prix, Leclerc now has a fourth and an eighth-place finish to his name, while Hamilton has just a P7 and a P10.
Hamilton’s car was disqualified in China for a skid block infringement, a common problem if the car is run too low. Ride height has been a key component of getting the best out of these cars since the ground effect era began, and it is not the first time Ferrari have fallen foul of the rules.
But Vasseur was keen to dispel the rumours that the SF-25 car has a specific issue with running a lower ride height, and that this is what is costing the team those valuable last few tenths of a second.
“We all want to run the car lower, we would all have more downforce in the situation, for everybody but there is a limit,” he explained. “The limit is bottoming and the limit is the regulations.
