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Vasseur looks back at 2023 Hungary GP

Vasseur postive: 'Race pace was fine'

23 July 2023 at 21:37
Last update 24 July 2023 at 00:48
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  • Toby McLuskie

Ferrari team boss Frédéric Vasseur draws positives from the Hungarian Grand Prix, despite a disappointing seventh and eighth-place finish for his drivers. In an interview with Autosprint, the team boss indicated that the disappointing result was not so much down to the Ferrari's potential, but more down to bad luck with pit stops and a time penalty.

Bad luck for Leclerc

"We are frustrated [by the result]. If we want to be competitive, we simply cannot afford these mistakes," Vasseur said. Carlos Sainz did not progress beyond eighth place partly due to an unfortunate qualifying session. Charles Leclerc was not only unlucky with a slow pit stop, but the Monegasque also drove too fast in the pit lane. The five-second penalty he received for this caused Leclerc to drop back to seventh place. Vasseur mainly points to these breakdowns, about Ferrari's race pace he is more appreciative.

"Pace not far behind Hamilton"

"Our pace was not exceptionally good, but we were not far behind Hamilton either. It was mainly due to the mistakes we made during this Grand Prix, but I am positive about our pace. We had a much better pace than expected. Overall, in terms of race pace it was not a bad race at all, but with a disappointing result," the Ferrari team boss indicated.