Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has dismissed that the team’s disastrous Qatar Grand Prix weekend was all down to being outdeveloped in the 2025 Formula 1 season.
Lewis Hamilton’s struggles with Ferrari in his debut campaign with the Maranello-based squad persisted at the Lusail International Circuit last weekend.
The seven-time World Champion endured successive Q1 exits, having qualified 20th at Las Vegas and 18th at Qatar, and ended the 57-lap race outside the top 10 in 12th.
Speaking after the race, the Briton lamented how he feels Ferrari’s call to stop development early in the season has exacerbated his plight.
“I think it really highlighted just how developed everybody else is and how undeveloped we are at this point of the year,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“I was nearly getting overtaken by the Stake [Sauber] car, and I couldn’t keep up with the Williams. The Williams came third. So, I mean, they’ve done a great job.”
But Vasseur dismissed Hamilton’s assertion somewhat, citing that Charles Leclerc had the pace to line up on the front row and score a podium in Mexico last month.
“Mexico, we were on the podium, which means that it’s not just about development,” he examined. “The others, they didn’t develop between Austin and today.”
Instead, the Frenchman revealed that the team got its set-up wrong. This was especially highlighted by the tyre pressure limits and stint amount imposed by Pirelli for the event.
“I think that this weekend we struggled a lot with the set-up, and [it was] probably also linked to the prescription of the tyre pressure,” he added.
“And we struggled from lap one to the last lap of the race. It was probably a bit better today, but marginally.
“But it’s part of the explanation, but the other part, the main part of the situation of this weekend, is linked to the set-up from lap one. We were in a tough situation.”
Vasseur admits struggling to keep Ferrari ‘motivated’
Vasseur had earlier revealed that the team had decided to stop developing the SF-25 and pull focus towards 2026 around April this year.
In hindsight, he doesn’t rue that decision but has conceded that it came from a place of despair, seeing just how dominant McLaren was.
“At the end of the day, when we decided to move on [to] ‘26, it means that we were not confident to be able to catch McLaren before the end,” he revealed.
“It was the rationale behind the decision, and I think, honestly, today it was a good decision.”
He also addressed Hamilton’s comments about the setbacks having an impact on morale, admitting that the mood within the team could be better.
“What I underestimated, probably personally, is the fact that when you know that you won’t develop the car, it’s more difficult to keep everybody… motivated is not the right word, because when you are doing this job, but with expectation, I would say, and this is important.”
Having said that, Vasseur is sure the team can bounce back and cited Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s resurgent run since the summer break to underline his point.
“Max was able to do it,” he asserted. “He was P10 in Quali in Budapest, he was P11 in the race, and then he started to win races.
“It means that you can come back, and as a team we have to try to understand what we did wrong this weekend. From my understanding so far, it’s linked to the tyre pressure, the prescription, that we were a bit like on a balloon all the weekend. And we struggled to deal with [it], but it’s the same for everybody.”
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