Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur says the timing of the Safety Car in the Las Vegas Grand Prix was the “worst case scenario” after it cost the side a probable victory.
Charles Leclerc had managed the opening stint of the race well, passing Max Verstappen for the lead before the Dutchman headed to the pits and served a five-second time penalty for running the Monegasque wide at Turn 1 on the first lap.
From there, it looked as if Leclerc could go on to seal just the second non-Red Bull win of 2023 and his first of the year before a Safety Car intervened at half-race distance.
Both Red Bulls pitted and Verstappen was able to repass Leclerc late on to take his 18th win of the year, but Vassuer was still pleased with Ferrari’s performance in Las Vegas.
“The timing of the safety car was the worst-case scenario for us four laps after [Leclerc’s] our pit stop,” he said. “It is like it is and Charles did a good job.”
Asked whether Leclerc could have held on to the win if the Safety Car hadn’t come out, Vasseur said he doesn’t “want to race with, if, if, if” and that the team didn’t consider bringing the Monegasque driver in to pit again.
“The big advantage was for Max because he pitted 10 laps before,” he said.
“You don’t know at this stage who [you] will beat and what will be the position on track.”
After Verstappen forced Leclerc wide at the start of the grand prix, Red Bull opted not to give back the position to the Ferrari man and instead tried their luck at extending the gap out in front to nullify the five-second penalty that eventually came.
Asked for his thoughts on the incident, Vasseur said “He got a penalty, I think he was behind before turning and he pushed Charles out. He can’t complain about it.”
Throughout the opening stint on the Medium compound, Leclerc kept pace with Verstappen, with Vasseur claiming Ferrari was “better on the tyre management” at that stage.
In the final stint of the race, ageing tyres allowed Perez initially to pass Leclerc, only for him to repass the Mexican driver before both were overtaken by Verstappen.
A lock-up late on relegated Leclerc to third, but in the closing laps Vasseur noted that the team “were coming back on Perez” and “the pace was there.”
Leclerc clearly felt the same way, committing to a last-lap manoeuvre to take second place with a late move on the brakes down into Turn 14 to split the two Red Bulls.
“It was on the limit,” said Vasseur. “The lap before I said, ‘ok, we will try to do it.’
“But I had the gap on my dash and I said, ‘wow, no, it’s too far away, it’s too far away.’
“The lap after that, I was a bit surprised but, probably less than Checo. But no it was a mega good move. And I think he was so motivated, let’s say that he had to do it.”
Vassuer also praised Carlos Sainz for his efforts during the Las Vegas GP, with the Spaniard overcoming an eventful weekend to recover to sixth, beating both Mercedes cars.
Sainz’s weekend started with his car requiring extensive repairs after hitting a water valve cover in FP1, which led to him being handed a 10-place grid penalty for taking on a new battery.
After qualifying second, Sainz started in 12th but was caught up in a multi-car incident at the start of the race, dropping him even further down the order.
“If you consider the Friday story or Thursday P1 story plus the incident lap one, turn 1, he is P20 or 18 and he’s coming back P6 – for us overall, it’s a good weekend,” Vasseur noted.
Leclerc and Sainz’s collective points haul of 26 puts Ferrari within four points (388) of Mercedes (392) for second in the Constructors’ Championship ahead of Abu Dhabi.
With only one round remaining next weekend, Vasseur acknowledged the Italian marque’s rapid progress in recent rounds to close in on their rivals.
“If you consider that we were 60 points behind them a couple of races ago, we are on a good path but Abu Dhabi will be another story for points,” he summarised.
“We were able to perform in Monza, in Singapore, in Austin, in Mexico, during this weekend on different tracks with different weather conditions, different compounds and we can be more than motivated before Abu Dhabi. The momentum is for us.”
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