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Ferrari happy with execution after mishap in Singapore
After a disappointing Q3 session for Ferrari, where Carlos Sainz crashed and Charles Leclerc could not set a lap time, Frederic Vasseur was not completely dissatisfied with how the Italians managed to recover come race day in Singapore. Charles Leclerc finished fifth, while Carlos Sainz finished in P7 after also having a bad start in the Asian country.
"Friday we were in a better shape than sixth and seventh. Between that, we missed something during the weekend, it's clear. When you come in ninth and tenth, we know that we made something wrong on Saturday. But the Sunday [it's not] that we have to blame something or someone [after qualifying], it's more than to do a better thing," Vasseur answered in Singapore with a glass-half-full approach.
Ferrari's strategy could move the team forward in the Asian country. While after a worse start, Sainz could make up ground with an undercut. Leclerc performed an overcut that eventually made him finish ahead of Lewis Hamilton and was able to challenge George Russell.
"The result, the strict result of the weekend is not what I expected, but the result of the Sunday is a good one, it's a good race. As you said we had a strong pace, good start for Charles, Carlos was a little bit on the dirty side and a bit blocked. But then a good strategy, good pit stop, good tyre management in the line of the last couple of events, and I think we can be pleased with this. Now we have a couple of weeks to prepare the last six races and to be ready for Austin," the team principal continued.
Maximising the result after a mistake
Saturday did not go how Ferrari expected on the streets of Singapore. In Q3, both drivers found themselves at the bottom of that session's timesheet, and Sainz made an error that resulted in him placing his Ferrari in the wall. "If we miss something this weekend, it's not Friday, it's not Sunday, it's in between. Clearly, until Q2, we were into the pace with Lando, and then we didn't do a lap in Q3 with two cars, and then we have to start from ninth and tenth. In Singapore, it's almost done. Probably the best that we could achieve today. Perhaps we could have got George, but it was the maximum," Vasseur continued.
"But it’s not today [Sunday] that we lost something," he underlined.
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24 September 2024
