Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says the inconsistent results of so many midfield teams in Formula 1 this year are a function of how tight the 2023 grid is — and so those teams need to be cautious about overreacting to each race result individually.
In the Belgian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc started from pole position — up from second in qualifying thanks to Max Verstappen’s grid penalty — and executed a strong race to hold off Lewis Hamilton for third place behind the two Red Bulls. Having finished seventh and eighth in Hungary and ninth and 10th at Silverstone, Vasseur says he’s not going to let the Spa result be overstated.
“I will stay very calm, because we had the same meeting one week ago and we were at the end of the world because McLaren was flying and we were stupid, and from one week to the other McLaren is at the back and we are at the front,” Vasseur said. “We have to take it easy race after race — we know that the pack is so tight that for one or two things, you can move from P2 to P11.
“It’s not the end of the season, we have a lot to do. But for sure it’s good to finish the first part of the season on the positive tone, at least we will have two weeks off with a positive race in mind.”
Although he wants to ensure Ferrari does not get carried away with the podium finish, where Vasseur will take confidence is in how well the team responded to such challenging weather throughout the three days in Belgium.
“For sure, I’m happy that we did a strong weekend in every single condition — wet, slicks, long stints, short stints — that we were always there is good for us. Now we have to understand why we are more comfortable on some tracks than some others.
“But I think everybody is in the same situation — we are all a bit inconsistent. Because you have one or two tenths between P2 and P11, it means that the characteristic of tire management or level of downforce that you choose at the beginning of the weekend means — if you get it right — you can do a very strong one and we don’t have to draw any definitive conclusions.
“I think it will be like this until the end of the season and we have to be more consistent, to understand where we are weak, why we are weak and to try to minimize that kind of weekend.”
