The director of the Scuderia Ferrari, Fred Vasseur, has insisted that his team must remain calm and focused on their work despite the colossal gap between them and the championship leaders, Red Bull, after the first twelve races of the year.
Ferrari’s Struggle
During the first half of the season, Ferrari has seen Red Bull pull away in the Constructors’ Championship, with the team from Maranello already trailing by over 300 points after the first twelve races, all of which have been won by Red Bull.
However, despite the performance gap, Ferrari has made significant progress in recent races, securing three podium finishes since the start of the season [Baku, Austria, and Belgium], and after the Belgian Grand Prix, occupying fourth place, just one point behind Aston Martin in the championship.
Ferrari is also being chased by McLaren, who has also made significant progress in recent races, closing the gap to Ferrari to just 88 points.
The Call for Calm
When asked about his team’s performance in the first half of the season, Frederic Vasseur emphasized the need for everyone to remain calm internally, as the 2023 campaign is far from over, and the gaps behind Red Bull are small enough that anything can happen.
“We have to remain calm, without getting too excited today or getting depressed when things don’t go as well,” stated Frederic Vasseur in an interview with Autosprint.
“We have to be balanced in judgment and emotions. At the post-race meeting in Budapest, it seemed to many that it was the end of the world, that McLaren was flying and that we didn’t know how to do our job.”
“Seven days later, everything changed. McLaren struggled in the race [in Belgium], and we are ahead. We must remain calm and face our work, Grand Prix after Grand Prix, with the right spirit and by working on our weaknesses.”
“The competition is tight, and a small thing is enough to lose two tenths, which will make you drop from second to eleventh place.”
“We are not at the end of the season,” reminds the Frenchman. “There is still a lot to do, but I am happy to start the break after the good race at Spa-Francorchamps: after the two-week break, we will have a positive mindset.”
For the resumption of the championship scheduled for the end of August in the Netherlands, Ferrari has launched a development plan until the US Grand Prix in October. Several upgrades are expected at Zandvoort on the SF-23, while a more comprehensive package is set to debut at Monza a week later.
