Vasseur expects Ferrari to return to pre-Montreal performance level

Following an utterly difficult race in Montreal, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur expects his team to regain its competitive level at this weekend's Spanish Grand Prix.

Ferrari endured a tough weekend in Montreal two weeks, failing to score a single point in the wet 70-lap race after having struggled for outright pace in qualifying.

It was a shock result for the Scuderia after the opening eight races of the season saw the Italian team excel on every type of track. The Maranello-based team has already scored two wins with Carlos Sainz having won in Melbourne and Charles Leclerc having taken an emotional victory on home turn in Monaco.

WIth the field returning to Europe for the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari is keen to put its poor performance in Montreal behind it and return to fighting for victory at the Barcelona-Catalunya Circuit.

Sainz will complete his home race this weekend, and he will have an own grandstand for his most ardent fans. The man from Madrid has finished in the points in all nine of his appearances here.

Speaking of his expectations, team boss Fred Vasseur noted: "The Spanish Grand Prix should see us return to being competitive, with the same level of performance we have demonstrated throughout the season prior to the Canadian Grand Prix.

"In fact, we come to Barcelona buoyed by the fantastic performance from our Ferrari Hypercar colleagues who have just won the Le Mans 24 Hours for the second year running. We learned some valuable lessons from the Montreal weekend and feel we have now moved on from there.

"We have to work calmly and continue to focus on ourselves. The Barcelona-Catalunya circuit has always been regarded as a great test of a car’s all-round ability and we expect to be back on our usual form here.

"However, all season long we have seen qualifying and the race fought out to the nearest hundredth of a second, so it will be vital for us to ensure we do everything correctly, down to the smallest detail. That will involve being on top of our game, because only by executing every session perfectly can we get the results we know we are capable of.

"This is Carlos’ home race and I’m sure all that extra support from the fans will be an added boost for him. It’s going to be an interesting weekend and we are counting on scoring plenty of points," concluded Vasseur.