(Motorsport-Total.com) – Is the pressure mounting for team principal Frederic Vasseur after Ferrari’s disastrous home performance in Monza? The Scuderia had traveled to the home race in the Royal Park with a brand-new engine upgrade and high expectations, but in the end, only a sobering sixth place from Lewis Hamilton was on the scoreboard.
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“We all feel like we messed up,” Vasseur had to admit after the race. “We had hoped to offer all the Tifosi something different this weekend as a thank you for their support and enthusiasm.”
What Ferrari offered was only a spectacular crash by Charles Leclerc, who had already gone off in the Parabolica in the second lap and crashed heavily into the tire barriers. Otherwise, Ferrari just drifted along.
Fourth and fifth places in qualifying were flattering, as Max Verstappen and Lando Norris had to manage the crucial Q3 attempt without a slipstream, and Kimi Antonelli only made a half-hearted attempt alone on the track due to his confirmed engine penalty.
In the race, Lewis Hamilton then fell behind them and had to settle for sixth place as the worst of the four top teams – apart from Red Bull replacement Liam Lawson.
Schumacher: Hopefully nothing worse happens now
The position of team principal Vasseur probably did not improve this weekend. Is his job possibly even at risk now? “I’m not quite sure what this means for him,” says Sky expert Ralf Schumacher, seeing Vasseur’s position in danger. “Especially here in Italy, it was a kind of embarrassment that you don’t like to see.”
The list of mishaps is long: poor qualifying, no pace on the straights, grumbling drivers, an unnecessary duel at the start, an engine already damaged after the crash, and questions about Charles Leclerc’s fitness. “I hope nothing worse happens after this weekend because clearly, the disappointment will be great,” says Schumacher.
Vasseur himself finds it difficult to find positive aspects after the race, even though he promises a better performance for Madrid. “If I had to look for the positive, I would focus much more on yesterday. I believe we took a step forward,” he insists looking back at Saturday.
Monza: Driver ratings by Marc Surer and the editorial team
The race pace itself was “probably okay,” according to the Frenchman. “The main problem was the top speed and overtaking. It was simply impossible for us to attack or defend,” he says. “When we attacked someone, we drained the battery, and on the next straight, we lost the position again.”
“Our problem was that we were almost everywhere ten km/h too slow,” says Vasseur. “If we used a bit more energy in one corner, the deficit on the next straight was even bigger. That was practically impossible to manage.”
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“But honestly, this is no news. We knew before arriving in Monza that it would go like this. The race circumstances didn’t exactly help either,” he says.
Vasseur: I told you, the engine doesn’t bring much
The hopes before the home race rested precisely on the new combustion engine upgrade. But the sobering reality in the Scuderia camp followed immediately. When asked if this specification was not the hoped-for game changer, Vasseur responds dryly as usual: “At least I was right about one thing.”
However, the team principal partially rejects that Ferrari lacks both pure combustion power and efficiency in energy delivery compared to Mercedes – as Charles Leclerc complained after qualifying. “I don’t want to go into too much detail. But if you lack pure power, you start playing with energy delivery to compensate on a straight,” Vasseur explains the fundamental dilemma of the Reds.
If you call on more power in one area, you naturally have less available elsewhere. “And then you get into a downward spiral when you try to handle that in a duel. Honestly, it’s not about energy delivery. In my opinion, that was okay; even McLaren fiddled with it a bit on Friday and Saturday morning. In the end, we simply lack pure power.”
“The reality is this: If you lack a value X in Zandvoort, that makes two or three tenths. If you lack a value of ‘X minus’ in Monza, the gap to Mercedes is twice as big,” the Frenchman calculates.
No quick improvement in sight
A quick improvement is not in sight for now, as adjustments to the power unit are a lengthy process in the era of the budget cap. “This process with the engine takes an extremely long time. It’s not like with the chassis. With the chassis, you can bring an upgrade from one day to the next; it’s very quick to get back to pace,” Vasseur points out.
The lead times for parts are long, and the budget cap doesn’t make it easier since the units have to be produced for the entire season in advance. Anyone wanting to initiate a new development must produce a completely new batch – a tricky and expensive undertaking.
“We didn’t expect to make up the deficit with ADUO 1 or ADUO 2. We are making small steps,” says Vasseur. Nevertheless, they fight for every single horsepower: “If you make a small step with the engine – yesterday there were areas behind us of 0.010 seconds, then 0.030 and 0.050 – that means in terms of placement: Even if you find just a few hp, that’s a good jump in the starting grid.”
The real turnaround is only promised by management for the coming years. “Next year we will have a new engine. The goal is, of course, to catch up – and as quickly as possible.” For the current season, however, he takes the pressure off his engineers’ shoulders: “I didn’t expect us to make up the gap to Mercedes within two months.”
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The question is whether someone will also take the pressure off Vasseur’s shoulders…