Vasseur defends Hamilton after tough qualifying session in Bahrain
Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has defended the seven-time F1 champion Lewis Hamilton after a tough qualifying session that saw the Briton secure a disappointing ninth place on the grid for the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Ferrari brought a new floor to Bahrain which seemingly added more performance to the SF25 as Charles Leclerc managed to secure P3 on the grid for tomorrow's Bahrain race.
His team-mate Lewis Hamilton looked relatively comfortable in his SF-21 across the opening two qualifying segments, but he failed to deliver a good lap in the final part of the session, ending up only ninth on the grid for today's Bahrain Grand Prix.
Commenting on the Scuderia's qualifying performance, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur has praised Leclerc and his engineering team for having come up with a good setup for the all-important Saturday session.
"Today’s three qualifying sessions were quite chaotic for everyone because these cars are very sensitive to the wind and to track temperature. On our side, I think we have made good progress and Charles was able to get everything out of the car to finish a strong P3. Lewis struggled on his last lap in Q3, after having been on the pace in the first two parts.
"For the race tomorrow, with Charles’ grid position, we have to be ambitious but I think Lewis also has the potential to come back and score good points. One unknown factor is that, so far, our long runs have been done in very hot conditions and in the race it will be much cooler.
As for Ferrari's chances, Vasseur suggested that that the race might turn into a very difficult Grand Prix in which tyre management will be the key factor.
"Charles has two sets of Mediums which could be an advantage as we have seen a lot more tyre degradation than at the first three races, run on tracks that had been completely or partially resurfaced. As for the new floor, I think we will have to wait until we run it also in Jeddah next week to have a clearer picture of what it brings us."
