Fred Vasseur has explained how he will be trying to keep Ferrari “calm” as the 2026 campaign develops, after Lewis Hamilton’s breakthrough win for the team generated talk of a championship challenge.
Hamilton, who finished P2 in Canada and Monaco, used an aggressive three-stop strategy to beat his two-stopping Mercedes rivals at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya last weekend, with the team also exploiting a late-race Virtual Safety Car period.
Given that it marked the first non-Mercedes triumph of the season, and that Hamilton cut Kimi Antonelli’s points advantage from 66 to 41, aided by the Italian’s retirement, plenty of paddock figures were quick to raise the prospect of a title tilt.
Giving his reaction in the Barcelona paddock on Sunday afternoon, Ferrari team boss Vasseur stressed: “Nothing changed today compared to last week [in Monaco]. The result is different; the outcome of the race is different.
“The commitment of the guys in the garage, in Maranello, from Lewis, from Charles [Leclerc] – it didn’t change compared to last week. We have to stay calm with this. It’s not that today racing is magic and last week it was not, but I think we are into the collaboration, we are improving.
“We know each other, at Ferrari, Lewis, we know each other a bit more each day, and it’s all a matter of details at the end of the day. For, I think, one tenth in Q2, we had six or seven cars. It means that sometimes small details can make a huge difference in terms of position.
“We saw [in the race] that track position is very important. As soon as you are not in clean air, you are struggling.
“I’m taking it as a mega good result, mega positive result. It’s a good reward for everybody, for Lewis, for the team in Maranello, for the team at the track, but it’s not that the situation is completely different compared to last week.”
He added: “What is good is that we are going I think in the right direction. We had a good weekend in Canada, a good one in Monaco. This weekend the pace was good from the beginning.
“We were able to fight with the two cars for the pole position. I think it’s a good step forward. But I think what is important is that this season, the championship will be based on the capacity of the team to develop, not on the picture of Barcelona.
“Usually, for the last 25 years, we were used to saying that a good car in Barcelona will dominate the season, but I think this season will be much more based on the capacity of all the teams to bring performance to the car.
“I think we brought something this weekend, the others didn’t. We will probably bring something in the UK, I don’t know. We will bring something soon. It will be all capacity and the capacity of the team to develop.”
Pressed further on Hamilton cutting Antonelli’s lead, and whether Ferrari are in a position to “give him everything” to fight for what would be an eighth Drivers’ title, Vasseur pushed back once more.
“I’m not sure that I want to reply to this kind of question,” he said. “I had probably some comments two weeks ago that everything was a disaster, and now we are speaking about the World Championship. This is the worst approach that I could have.
“The approach is to go to Austria exactly with the same approach that we had in Barcelona, and not to think about the championship or to project yourself with 25 more wins. I will never do it.”
He summed up: “I won’t change the approach for the next one. I will try to continue to chase details, to bring performance everywhere and to do small step by small step. Let’s celebrate this one, let’s enjoy, and we will be back next week in Austria with the same impressions.”
