Vasseur opens up on Ferrari's double disqualification at the Chinese Grand Prix
On the back of the double disqualification for Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at last Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has opened up on the controversy, conceding that the Maranello-based outfit might have applied a too aggressive approach at the start of the new season.
Having started the Chinese Grand Prix from P6 on the grid, Charles Leclerc gained a place at the start, overtaking reigning champion Max Verstappen into Turn 1. However, the Monegasque made contact with his new team-mate Lewis Hamilton in Turn 2, and as a result of the incident he picked up a serious damage to his front wing endplate.
Despite considering a front wing change during the pit stop, Ferrari and Leclerc elected to continue with the damaged part as a longer pit stop would have seen Leclerc fall down the order, and the sprint race saw drivers struggle to complete an overtaking move due to the overheating front tyres and turbulent wake.
In the end, the Monegasque displayed a strong pace, and finished fifth with his damaged front wing. However, the FIA noted after the race that his SF-25 was found underweight during the post-race technical investigation.
The Jo Bauer-led FIA technical group replaced Leclerc's damaged front wing with a spare part which was 0.2kg heavier, albeit his SF-25 was still one kg under the minimum weight limit after 2.0 litres of fuel were removed from the car.
As for his team-mate, Hamilton was expected to build on his great tyre management from the sprint race, but he struggled in the 56-lap race, and was forced to perform a second pit stop while his rivals completed the race distance with a single stop. The seven-time F1 champion ended up sixth in his second race with the Maranello-based outfit.
However, Hamilton was facing a possible disqualification from the Chinese Grand Prix after his car was deemed to have excessive skid wear, the rearmost skid falling foul of the 9mm minimum mandated by the technical regulations.
The stewards confirmed that both the Monegasque and the British driver have been disqualified from the Shanghai F1 race.
The Maranello-based outfit has now confirmed that excessive tyre wear led to the issue on Leclerc's car, suggesting that the team had expected a two-stop strategy, but with the hard compound having been strong enough for a single-stop strategy, the team built its calculations on a loss of tyres that occurs with a two-stop approach.
Speaking to French sports newspaper Équipe, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur defended the Scuderia's approach, denying that the Maranello-based outfit intended to gain unfair advantage with the technical irregularities.
"We were perhaps too aggressive. But that's just the way it is. This setback shows that we strive for perfection and sometimes look too far ahead. I think you should differentiate between a disqualification for taking risks and a disqualification for cheating."
"In Formula 1, you push yourself to the limit in every respect: the greater the pressure, the tougher the competition, the closer you get to these limits, the more you have to risk for success."
Many consider the driving pairing of Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc as one of the best ever in the history of Formula One, but some have criticized the Scuderia for having hired the seven-time F1 champion in the closing stages of his career.
"I found some of the criticism of Lewis very harsh. I hear people say that Hamilton is worn out and getting on in years, but we don't see that. Just look at his last race last year. He started sixteenth and finished fourth, even overtaking his teammate."
"There are people who tell me you made way too much of a fuss about Hamilton's arrival in the winter. But please, that's not true at all. It was the media that made such a fuss about it; we didn't ask for anything like that," concluded the Frenchman.
