The much-anticipated upgrade that Ferrari introduced in Imola did not bring the success the Scuderia had hoped for. The Italians watched as McLaren overtook them on the track and made another comeback in the championship. After a ‘frustrating’ weekend, Ferrari has work to do, as they aim to challenge Red Bull for victories at all costs.
While Charles Leclerc became the first Ferrari driver since Michael Schumacher to climb the podium in Imola, Carlos Sainz finished in fifth place. The Spaniard ‘struggled’ with the car and, to make matters worse, was overtaken by Oscar Piastri. “After qualifying, some problems emerged,” Sainz said after the race. “These issues began to affect us during the race, preventing us from delivering a strong weekend for the Tifosi.”
“We’re going to make another step forward in Monaco,” predicted the three-time race winner. “If you look at Leclerc, you can see that our pace is not bad, we just need to improve in qualifying.” Sainz assured that Ferrari’s latest upgrades had nothing to do with the problems. “We just need to figure this out, and we’ll find a solution.”
Fred Vasseur’s Perspective
Team boss Fred Vasseur is also not entirely satisfied with the results from Imola. “It gives me mixed feelings,” the Frenchman responded. “I think we’ve made good strides, but McLaren seems to be doing the same. It’s frustrating because I think we messed up something in qualifying, not in the race.”
However, Vasseur also takes away some positives from Imola. The margins between the top three teams are small, which is good news for the world championship. “After 63 laps, we’re all within seven seconds,” he explained. “We’re going to see a lot of this competition. This means we need to accelerate the development of our car.”
The team boss emphasized that the season is still young – anything can happen in the title fight. “We’ve only driven seven of the twenty-four rounds,” he concluded. “Last year at this time, we were 100 points behind Aston Martin, only to end up 100 points above them. The championship can change in one or two weekends.”
