Ferrari Formula 1 boss Frederic Vasseur admits the team’s strategic decisions contributed to limiting Charles Leclerc’s chance of winning the Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc had been the pacesetter through the second and third practice sessions but qualified a disappointing fifth as he rued balance struggles with his SF-24 car.
The Monegasque’s one-lap woes would haunt him as team-mate Carlos Sainz was in prime position to capitalise on Max Verstappen encountering a brake problem.
With Leclerc tucked up behind Lando Norris, Ferrari triggered the undercut on the McLaren to manoeuvre its driver through into second place once the others pitted.
However, Leclerc’s stop came seven laps before Sainz, who could extend his stints to the optimal length to extend his advantage towards nine seconds at one stage.
Leclerc would deliver an impressive final stint to close to within 2.3s of Sainz at the chequered flag, while also setting the fastest lap to achieve the additional point.
Explaining the pace comparison between his drivers, Vasseur said: “We are speaking about plus or minus half a tenth and the classification is one thing, the pace is another one.
“I think during the race, the issue that we had to cover [Oscar] Piastri at the beginning, that was not ideal in terms of time, for sure.
“But we didn’t want to give up the position on track, and we’re putting him in a tough situation.”
Leclerc accepted that Sainz deserved to triumph, admitting that losing out on grid position was responsible for the failure to end his win drought dating back to 2022.
“I think in qualifying yesterday, I haven’t been good enough,” he rued. “In the second stint today, on the first Hard stint, I had quite a bit of graining on the front left after the Safety Car.
“The last stint was really good, but it wasn’t enough. Carlos has just been better this weekend.
“But it’s been like that in the last three years, where we basically will arrive at one race and Carlos will be better. And then I’ll push and then I’ll be better at the next race.
“And then we’ll improve like that. That’s very exciting as a driver to have such a fast team-mate. He’s really been on it since the beginning of the weekend. So congratulations to Carlos.”
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