Vasseur thinks there was more to achieve without the safety car interruption

On the back of Ferrari's best race result so far in 2025, the Scuderia's team boss Fred Vasseur suggested that there was more to achieve at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but the mid-race safety car intervention deprived the Maranello-based squad of maximizing their offset strategy.

Ferrari decided to start both drivers on new Medium tyres, unlike those around them that had all gone for used Softs. Starting from second, Charles Leclerc paid the price for this, losing places to George Russell and Lando Norris.

His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was running where he started in ninth place. When Oscar Piastri pitted for tyres on lap 14, Leclerc found himself in the lead with Hamilton second. The SF-25s made a double pit stop on lap 17, taking on another set of Mediums, with the Monegasque rejoining fifth, before immediately passing Pierre Gasly for fourth.

The seven-time F1 champion rejoined tenth and was immediately on the attack, catching and passing the group ahead, in the order Jack Doohan, Max Verstappen, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Esteban Ocon, getting as high as fifth when Gasly made his second stop.

Nearer the front, Leclerc was now the fastest driver on track, to the extent he caught and passed Norris for third place. At this point, the Ferraris were on fresher rubber than those around them, which gave them a degree of flexibility when it came to how long to extend the second stint and regarding which compound to use for the final stint.

However, a collision further down the order on lap 32 brought out the Safety Car, so that everyone dived into the pits for a pit stop that cost about half the usual time. At this point, there was no option but to pit for a final time, fitting Hards to both cars to go all the way to the chequered flag, having lost any advantage of being on fresher tyres.

In the closing stages, Leclerc began to struggle on his Hard tyres and Norris, in better shape on the Mediums overtook him with five laps remaining, so that Leclerc had to settle for fourth place, three seconds down while Hamilton finished the 57-lap race in P5.

Assessing Ferrari's performance at the Bahrain Grand Prix, team boss Fred Vasseur was left to rue the safety car intervention that hindered the Scuderia's offset strategy.

"We had the potential to do better today. The Safety Car did not come at the right time for us, at least for Charles, but this is not an excuse. We were in the middle of a good second stint and our strategy would have given us the chance to decide the tyre for the end of the race between Hard and Soft after having gone for two sets of Mediums in the first part of the race with both our drivers.

"When the Safety Car came out, we had to take it but this spoilt our plans and maybe that’s where we lost the best opportunities to bring home a podium finish. However, we scored good points with both Charles and Lewis who did well to come back after a tough qualifying, producing a strong race which is very encouraging.

Reflecting on the current pecking order, the Frenchman has conceded that the Scuderia is behind the field-leading McLaren, but he hopes that the upgraded floor can bring Ferrai a bit closer to the sharp end of the field at this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

"We are where we are: McLaren is still a step ahead but we were fighting with them in the second stint and we have been able to fight with both Mercedes and Red Bulls. We’ll keep working to be more competitive in the next races, starting in Saudi Arabia next week."