Vasseur satisfied with the victory of the United States GP. It couldn't be otherwise, the Ferrari team principal, who however preferred not to let any ostentatious enthusiasm show. The Maranello team now sees the objective of the constructors' championship closer than it has been for years. However, it will be essential to maintain concentration and consistency in terms of performance.
US GP: Vasseur enjoys the work done so far
Ferrari dominates the United States GP, bringing a historic one-two to Maranello. The latter had been missing on American soil for eighteen years, that is, since the Grand Prix held in 2006 on the controversial Indianapolis circuit. At the time, Michael Schumacher managed to bring the Prancing Horse to the top step of the podium, followed by his teammate Felipe Massa. Third, however, was Giancarlo Fisichella on Renault. The years have passed and Ferrari has lost its image as a winning team. The latter, however, is trying to rebuild it Frederic Vasseur, incurring ups and downs. It is, if you like, a bit like the script of the current season, heavily penalized by the updates brought in the Spanish GP, which have done nothing but distance the team from its opponents.
Vasseur did not give up and together with the team, both in the factory and later on the track, it seems they have found the right path after the summer break. Unlike what happened in previous years, especially under Binotto's management, this summer a real overall vision of the car project emerged. This allowed the Ferrari to rebuild and regain confidence in herself. In fact, step by step, she finally managed to find a performance on the track worthy of the level of her opponents.
From the podium at Zandvoort, through the victory at Monza, up to yesterday's on COTA, a circuit that should have been anything but friendly to the Maranello team. Among other things, Ferrari was the only top team not to bring any kind of update to Texas. They bravely chose to believe in the previous steps, a brave choice that however repaid the team and fans in the best possible way. Perhaps, even arriving without any unknowns on the two cars turned out to be an advantage over the opponents, who instead wanted to bring substantial changes to their cars. All this, especially in a sprint weekend, which leaves little time for the teams to arrive at an optimal set-up for the single-seaters.
Vasseur on the last five races: “We have to stay calm, there are a lot of points up for grabs”
Everything is going according to plan at Ferrari and the drivers are also satisfied with the team's work. The path seems to be the right one, but to fight until Abu Dhabi for the constructors' title, it will be necessary to preserve what, with the exception of McLaren, all the other top teams have lacked: consistency. For this reason, as Vasseur recalled after the United States GP, we must not lose concentration.We can't already consider ourselves world champions because we aren't. We have to stay focused and try to do our best. also next week in Mexico. Where it will be a different context and challenge, also with the altitude. It doesn't mean that if we were fast in Austin we will also be fast in Mexico. But today we did a good job and scored some important points. So we'll start with this motivation next week".
However, it is impossible for any Ferrari fan not to dream big, especially after so many years in which the battle for one of the two championships has always seemed like a distant mirage, not to say a faded memory of the past. The hopes of the Ferrari fans represent a heavy responsibility for Vasseur to bear, but one from which he certainly does not try to shirk.You have to stay calm, there are five games left. What is true is that there are a lot of points up for grabs between now and the end. With the sprints we have something like 200 points up for grabs and that means anything is really possible. The most important thing is to focus on performance and not think that everything is done.".
Consistency and concentration, as mentioned, will be fundamental. But, given the great work of the team and the impeccable leadership of Sainz and Leclerc, nothing, to date, seems to be prohibitive. For this reason Vasseur can say he is satisfied with the performance of his team, as he himself confirmed to Sky microphones. "The whole weekend went well. We suffered more in qualifying because it was a set-up choice. But we knew we could get through here in Austin. The pilots did an amazing job. We knew today it was a question of tyre management and they were very conservative from the beginning.".
