Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur stated the team isn’t chasing “a magic bullet” to recover a gap of “two or three tenths” to Formula 1 rivals McLaren.
The Scuderia has had an admittedly slow start to the 2025 campaign and followed its double disqualification in China with fourth and seventh for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton, respectively, at Suzuka.
After three Grands Prix, Ferrari has 35 points, 76 behind leaders McLaren in the Constructors’ standings.
In Japan, Leclerc’s run to fourth was an admittedly “annoying race,” with the Monegasque arguing he was “completely on my own.”
“It’s disappointing because when you put everything together like we’ve done this weekend, I think the balance was in the right place, there’s just not enough performance in the car,” Leclerc said.
Hamilton, too, admitted to having a performance deficit at Suzuka.
“I think I did the best I could today,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“I’m generally lacking performance compared to all the cars that are up ahead of me, particularly Mercedes, McLaren and obviously the Red Bull.”
Speaking to select media, including Motorpsort Week, Vasseur said, “The average picture is that we are two or three-tenths behind the pole position yesterday, and perhaps two or three-tenths behind today.
“It’s a very good picture and we have to work from there.”
Ferrari seeking incremental gains
Vasseur pinpointed that there isn’t one specific area, or “magic bullet” that will suddenly grant Ferrari the two/three three-tenths deficit in one leap.
Instead, the Ferrari Team Principal theorised that several small incremental improvements can recover the Italian outfit’s deficit.
“If last year we did a good step forward from the beginning of the season to mid-season or whatever, it’s not that we found a magic bullet,” he said.
“We never find something on the car at three or four-tenths. Quite often, when you improve, it’s because you are putting together ten areas with two or three hundredths of a second, and you are putting everything together, you are improving on the balance, you are helping the driver to get the best from the car.”
Vasseur argued that it’s “very difficult” to string together a completely efficient lap in qualifying, claiming Ferrari wasn’t too far off from nailing its Saturday effort.
“I think honestly yesterday that we were not that far away, but it was very difficult for us, but I think probably the same for McLaren, to put the lap together,” he said.
“But if you look at the lap of Charles that he lost one tenth and a half in the last chicane, and then he lost one tenth in the first corner, but I think it’s not an excuse.
“I’m not trying to say that we have the best car at all, because I think it’s exactly the same for [Oscar] Piastri and exactly the same for everybody, that when you are reaching a point it’s quite difficult to get the best of the car and we have also to improve on this, on the driver ability, let’s call it, to get the best from the potential.”
No reason to panic Tifosi
While the deficit isn’t ideal for Ferrari, it’s not a major cause of concern for Vasseur.
After all, Ferrari had a similar predicament last season before fighting back to become a title challenger to reigning Constructors’ winners McLaren.
Vasseur is hoping for a repeat.
“I didn’t spend the winter to have expectations on race one, I will be there or there, but I’m just going to Australia to race and to try to get the best from what we have,” he said.
“We had exactly the same approach last year. We were able to come back the first couple of races where we were six-tenths off on average, and we were able to come back during the season.
“It means that we need to keep the same approach. It doesn’t matter the gap, it doesn’t matter the result of today.
“We need to try to do a better job next week to improve the potential and also the extraction of the potential of the car, its operation and potential.”
After strategy errors in Australia and a double DSQ in China, Japan was without operational errors, which Vasseur noted is a platform to build from.
“We have to improve everywhere and at least together we did a step forward compared to last week, last Sunday, at least on the operation,” he said.
“We have to start from there. It’s not the ideal as the start of the season for sure, but it’s still a long one with 21 [rounds] to go.”
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