Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has confirmed the SF-25 will be given a new upgrade potentially as early as the next Formula 1 race in Austria, after a Canadian Grand Prix that saw the team, as he described it, make too many “mistakes collectively.”
This year’s challenger has been seen Ferrari improve in some areas where it was weaker last years, but weaken significantly in the areas in which it had been strong.
Its most significant weak spot has been its pullrod rear suspension, which has been far too unstable, causing a chain of other problems, which have seen a downturn in performance levels.
The car’s biggest critic has been the team’s new boy, Lewis Hamilton, who has not been able to extract a great deal from it on virtually every circuit so far.
Hamilton has continuously pleaded for upgrades on the car, and it appears that he will be getting his wish.
After the race in Montreal, in which Charles Leclerc finished fifth after an FP1 crash and qualifying issues compromised his race, with Hamilton following home in sixth, having nursed the car for much of the afternoon after hitting a groundhog on Lap 12.
For Vasseur, it was a race of significant learning for the team, and said it had made a number of errors throughout the weekend that the team would take a generalised responsibility.
“I think the analysis is the good one,” he told media including Motorsport Week, in reference to Leclerc’s qualifying run that was blighted by traffic, “that we showed by the moment that we were into the pace, that the lap of Charles is purple sector one. And the last lap it was purple sector one.
“I don’t want to say that we would have done the pole position, but at least we would have been in a good shape. But I think we made too many mistakes collectively.
“From the beginning with the crash in FP1, with the mistake in quali, with the marmot [groundhog] in the race. And at the end, the fight is so tight.
“I’m not speaking about lap time or race time. I’m speaking about that you can change the position for almost nothing from one weekend to another one. That if you don’t do the perfect weekend… it’s a good lesson also from Mercedes. They were nowhere the last three weekends. And they were able to have the two cars on the podium this weekend.
“I’m not sure that they changed completely the car. It’s more than from the beginning of the weekend. From lap one on Friday morning, they were there.
“They did a good job in the preparation. Honestly, this weekend, for different reasons, the focus was not always there.”
‘We will have an upgrade soon,’ confirms Vasseur
Vasseur was asked whether he would be able to grant Hamilton’s wish for a new upgrade, expected to be a brand-new rear suspension, and confirmed that it will be happening, and very soon, too.
“We will have an upgrade soon. Before UK. Perhaps another one a bit later,” he said. “Honestly today, I think there is much more into the execution and what you are getting from the car than into the potential of the car itself.
“Now we are at the end of the obligation of this regulation. And we all know that when we are bringing something on track, we are more speaking about hundredths than tenths. And if you don’t do a good usage of the car, because for setup it’s a bit different, you can lose tenths.
“It means that a couple of times, on our side at least, we are not the only one. When we brought upgrades in the past, we needed also one or two races to adapt the car to the setup, to the new version.
“Honestly, I think that, and I want to put the focus on the team much more on the execution than on the pure potential of the car. But we will bring something.”
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