Vasseur confirms new package to debut in coming races

Having grabbed a surprise podium at Zandvoort, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has confirmed that the Scuderia will introduce a new package at one of the coming races.

Ferrari didn’t have the pace to compete in qualifying, but their race pace was much stronger. Having qualified sixth a full second behind pole-sitter Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc overtook Sergio Perez at the start.

The Monegasque then spent the opening stages of the race behind George Russell and Oscar Piastri until Ferrari executed a brilliant strategy move, calling Leclerc in for his pit stop earlier than his two direct rivals.

With the undercut move, Leclerc emerged in P3 after the first round of pit stops, and he was able to fend off the attacks from Piastri despite being on nine laps older tyres.

His team-mate Carlos Sainz started from P10 after a difficult qualifying session, but managed to perform several overtakes on the track to finish fifth.

Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has acknowledged that the Scuderia had expected to struggle at Zandvoort, and the opening days had confirmed this estimation.

"We were not very optimistic coming to Zandvoort, but today it went very well for both sides of the garage: we had good starts, good strategy, good pit stops, with both drivers managing their tyres very well.

“Charles was able to keep (Oscar) Piastri behind him and deserved this podium. We have to be positive and appreciate this, even if we have to keep in mind that (Lando) Norris was a long way ahead and really, we need to focus on getting wins, not finishing P3.

The Frenchman has confirmed that the Scuderia will soon introduce an upgrade package in the coming weeks from which the team hopes a lot.

"Looking at the race, already on Friday, we felt we were in better shape on used tyres than with new ones. So, overall it has been a good weekend and we must build on this.

“There are still nine races to go, some of them will suit us better than others and we must see what we can do with the new package that is coming soon, but today has certainly been a confidence boost for the team. Tonight we will allow ourselves to enjoy this podium and as from tomorrow we will focus on Monza."