‘We have to do a better job from the beginning’ says Vasseur as he reflects on Ferrari’s Spa weekend

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has claimed “the mood is good in the team” after a double-points finish in the Belgian Grand Prix, but that “we have to do a better job from the beginning” of the weekend in Hungary.

Charles Leclerc claimed only his fifth podium of the season at Spa-Francorchamps on Sunday as he finished behind both McLaren drivers, while Lewis Hamilton made up 11 places from a pit lane start to claim P7 at the chequered flag.

The seven-time World Champion had endured a difficult weekend prior to the race, failing to make it beyond the first part of Qualifying for both the Sprint and Grand Prix after suffering a high-speed spin and losing his best lap to track limits respectively.

“The mood is good. For sure it’s not the result that we are expecting with Lewis in the Quali yesterday, but I think it’s part of the life of a racing team that we reacted collectively very well today, that Lewis did a great job,” said Vasseur.

“He was quite aggressive at the beginning in the extreme conditions, he was able to fight with [Alex] Albon until the end and I think it was a good recovery for him also to be efficient like this.

“For sure that we have to do a better job from the beginning, that if you want to score podiums or wins that you can’t let one session away and we will have to do a step next week [in Hungary], but we are all pushing in the same direction.”

Ferrari introduced a new suspension upgrade this weekend despite only having a single, one-hour practice session before Sprint Qualifying took place on Friday.

Vasseur admitted that the lack of running was not optimal as well as the race initially being held in wet conditions, but that it was necessary in order to be on the front foot this weekend for the Hungarian Grand Prix.

“It’s never easy to introduce something on a Sprint weekend but we didn’t want to postpone to Budapest,” said Vasseur.

“It’s true that with the format of the weekend, the fact that you don’t long stint on Friday or you’re doing a long stint of four laps, it’s not easy to have references.

“But at the end I think it was the right call because it’s also the best preparation for us for Hungary.”

He added: “I think we are all in the same situation that the closer you will be to the end of the season, the more focused you will be on next year and for sure we will have to bring some small items until the end, more related to the layout of the track or the weather conditions or whatever, but no big package.”