Can Ferrari catch McLaren and Red Bull? Vasseur 'not thinking that way'

F1 News

Fred Vasseur on Ferrari catching McLaren and Red Bull
27 August at 13:00
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  • Ben Stevens
  • Editor

Since Charles Leclerc won his home race in Monaco back in May, Ferrari have struggled. They have only scored three podiums since then, in Austria, Belgium and now the Netherlands. However, team principal Fred Vasseur has admitted his focus isn't on catching McLaren and Red Bull, and these are his reason why. 

Not thinking about catching McLaren and Red Bull

When asked by the likes of GPblog whether Vasseur was confident that Ferrari would be able to catch McLaren and Red Bull before the end of the season, the Frenchman admitted that he is not thinking about it that way. "I'm just trying to do the best, to push on the development, to prepare in the best way Monza. And then we'll see what we can get." 

Vasseur continued his explanation to say "After three races, I think everybody was convinced that Max would be champion mid-season. And then we won some races and then it was McLaren and then Mercedes and now McLaren. And I hope that it will be Ferrari back soon. And we just have to keep the same approach. We don't have to try to draw a conclusion where we'll be in six races.

"The fight is huge. Everybody is pushing like hell. Everybody is bringing upgrades as soon as possible. It will be our turn next week. And it will be like this until the end of the season."

McLaren took the most points from the Ducth Grand Prix weekend after finishing P1 and P4, but Ferrari took the second most, with Leclerc finishing third and Sainz fifth. Their gap to Red Bull at the top is just 64 points, and only 34 to McLaren in second.