Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur thinks Charles Leclerc’s win in the Monaco Grand Prix shows the side is now “more opportunistic” compared to past Formula 1 seasons.
Ferrari has maintained that momentum in the nascent rounds of the current campaign as it has taken two victories and nine podiums to sit 24 points behind Red Bull.
The Maranello-based squad has brought both cars home inside the points in all eight races and Leclerc’s brake issue in Bahrain is the sole occasion it has lost points.
With the margins continuing to converge at the top between the leading teams, Vasseur has hailed the improvement Ferrari has made with maximising its own results.
“If you have a look on the last three or four races, Miami, Imola, this one, Melbourne, I think we had one in between. We had everybody in one-tenth,” Vasseur said.
“Even on the long stint, because in Miami we did 40 laps to finish two seconds behind Max and in Imola it was 36 laps for six seconds.
“Now we have at least three teams, but I think Mercedes is not that far away, at least three teams able to fight for the pole position, able to fight for the win.
“It’s exciting and it will be, I hope, like this until the end of the season. For sure, depending from track to track, we’ll have perhaps Red Bull with an advantage, or Ferrari, or McLaren.
“And we’ll have to be opportunistic. It was not always the case in the past, but last year we lost far too many points into the season.
“This season we made a huge step forward on this one also. We are much more opportunistic, and it will be like this until the end of the season, but we’ll try to be tight.”
Vasseur denied that the internal desire to return Ferrari to the pinnacle was ever lacking, but cited that the renewed competitiveness has served to sharpen the minds.
“It’s not a matter of motivation because the motivation is there for a while, but it’s self-confidence for the drivers, for the team,” he explained.
“For sure, as soon as you are in a position to win, you pay more attention to details, you have a kind of snowball effect.
“And this is, I think, part of the improvement of the last six or seven months.”
However, Vasseur has cautioned that Ferrari has to continue striving to enhance its operation in all areas as the battle at the sharp end intensifies in the coming races.
“We have to continue like this, but the worst-case scenario would be to imagine that it’s done, that it will be like this until the end, because I’m convinced that first before that we have different tracks with different layout, different characteristics, fitting more with McLaren or with Red Bull and it will be up and down until the end of the season,” he continued.
“We have to score good points when we are not at the top and to be able to win when we are there but it’s nothing changing.”
