Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has revealed the team “pushed like hell” to bring a modified floor to help cure its bouncing problem at Formula 1’s Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Italian marque’s position as Red Bull’s closest challenger in the nascent races has dissipated in recent weeks amid upgrades in Spain coming with complications.
Ferrari’s developments have triggered increased bouncing at high speed, prompting the squad to revert to the pre-Barcelona package at Silverstone earlier this month.
But having decided to use that round as an experimental weekend with cross-comparison tests in practice, Ferrari managed to produce revisions to the updated floor.
Vasseur has disclosed that the modified component was not planned, but the engineers back in Maranello put in relentless work to address the team’s latest setback.
“You know that it was not planned to have something this weekend, and after Silverstone, we pushed like hell at the factory,” Vasseur explained.
“When I said like hell, I think they were in the wind tunnel straight after the race to try to understand, to find solutions. We found solutions.
“We were able to produce four kits for this weekend. And I want to keep the same dynamic. I think it’s also positive for the team.”
Ferrari was more competitive around the slower-speed Hungaroring as Charles Leclerc capitalised on Max Verstappen colliding with Lewis Hamilton to claim fourth.
But while he insists the team is in better shape compared to 12 months ago and the previous weekend, Vasseur isn’t satisfied with the 20-second deficit to McLaren.
However, the Frenchman has stressed that a drastic overhaul doesn’t need to be undertaken, despite Ferrari’s lost ground to the leading pack since the season’s start.
“I’m not happy with the result of today, but I think we did a good step forward in terms of competitiveness compared to last week [at Silverstone],” he continued.
“And we have to continue in the same direction now, because the gap between the cars is a matter of two or three tenths.
“We finished the race 20 seconds on 70 laps. That is less than three tenths a lap, if you consider that we are five seconds after lap one.
“Now we don’t have to change things. We have just to do small steps there and there.
“Sometimes it’s a bit difficult, because when you are P5, P6, you have the feeling that you are miles away, and you want to change massively things.
“And it’s not like this that you will recover. It’s just to do a small step on different topics. And honestly, we have to put our attention on this.
“It’s much easier to pay attention and to pay attention to details when you are P1, P2, than when you are P6, when you want to change massively the racing.
“I think we have to stay focused on what we are doing in our direction.”
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