Vasseur hopes Ferrari can "move up the order" in Austin race
Reflecting on Saturday's sprint race and main qualifying session, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur sounded a positive note, claiming that the Scuderia's SF-24 has displayed an encouraging tyre management.
Following a strong showing in the Austin F1 Sprint, Ferrari drivers displayed encouraging pace in the main qualifying session, with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc ending up third and fourth on the grid for today's 45th United States Grand Prix.
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur was buoyed by the long-run pace displayed by the SF-24 in the Austin F1 Sprint, stressing that it could be crucial in today's 56-race at the Circuit of the Americas.
"The result overall is a good one, especially as we look in better shape over a long run, which will be useful in the race when you can overtake and when tyre degradation will be significant.
Vasseur hopes that Leclerc and Sainz will be able to display similar race pace to the sprint race, and will take on the fight against Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
"We will start from third and fourth and will try to do what we did this morning, moving up the order. It’s good to have both cars on the second row, but there is of course a bit of frustration because our drivers were both improving on their final lap before the yellow flags and of course that was the same for Max (Verstappen) and Lando (Norris), but we have clearly improved significantly.
"In this morning’s race, we were very consistent, with good tyre management and we were on the pace which is encouraging, scoring plenty of points.
"I don’t want to make any predictions for tomorrow, but looking at the way we caught Lando this morning and got closer to Max, we can be confident, but we must wait and see."
