Vasseur proud of Ferrari for securing the biggest point haul in the latest triple header
Following a tough day for Ferrari at Sao Paulo, team boss Fred Vasseur hailed the Scuderia for having secured the biggest points haul in the triple header of the United States, Mexico City and Sao Paulo Grands Prix.
Having secured P6 on the grid for today's Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc managed to pass Liam Lawson to go fifth at the start, but once again the SF-24’s pace on Intermediates meant he was unable to attack as hard as he would have liked. He was stuck behind Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon, so he made his stop first, on lap 24 to try to be able to run in clean air.
Unfortunately, he rejoined in traffic and thus dropped to seventh just as the Safety Car was deployed because of the intensity of the rain, before it was red flagged following Franco Colapinto’s crash.
Leclerc excelled at the restart, attacking both Lando Norris and George Russell at Turn 1, going up to fourth behind the leading trio of Max Verstappen and the Alpines of Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. However, after that, Leclerc again lacked pace and Russell in the Mercedes claimed back fourth place.
Towards the end, Leclerc felt more comfortable with the car and fended off Norris in the McLaren, fighting tooth and nail, and as the track condition improved, pulled away to bring home the ten points for fifth place.
For his team-mate Carlos Sainz, it was a day to forget as he crashed into the barriers both in Q2 this morning and again on lap 39 of the race, when fighting for position outside the points.
Reflecting on the Scuderia's day at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has acknowledged that the SF-24 lacked pace in the challenging conditions.
"We have mixed feelings today as we were able to limit the damage in our fight with McLaren, but on the other hand, we should have also scored points with Carlos, not just with Charles.
"With both drivers the timing of pit stops was not the best but in general we struggled a lot with the pace and in getting the tyres to the right temperatures after every restart.
"At the final restart, Charles did very well to get ahead of Lando (Norris) and George (Russell) but the Mercedes was able to get past again and Charles had to defend from Lando. As the stint progressed his tyres were performing better and he was able to bring home a P5."
Despite the tough result at Sao Paulo, the Frenchman sounded a positive note after Ferrari scored two victories in the triple header races of Texas, Mexico City and Sao Paulo.
"This weekend was a difficult one but looking at this triple-header as a whole, we are still the team that has scored the most points which is a good way to go into the final three races of the season. We will do our best to keep the fight open all the way to Abu Dhabi."
