Frederic Vasseur feels that Ferrari can now fight Red Bull on some tracks, even though there is still a gap to close between the Scuderia and the Milton Keynes-based outfit.
Compared to 2023, Ferrari made a step forward, especially in terms of race pace and tire degradation. However, Red Bull is still a step ahead, but the French team principal wants to stay positive and believes that the Scuderia can put pressure on their rivals.
“Now, I don’t want to be pessimistic, because it was a good weekend and we have to be optimistic, and we need to enjoy these moments, but it’s clear Red Bull is still ahead.
“In quali, they have perhaps two/three tenths on us, and in the race a bit more. But it’s difficult to estimate because we don’t know if they were pushing at the max.
“But the feeling is more positive that, if you come back in this region, you know if you do a step, you can put some pressure on them.
“When we were at one second [behind] it was useless, but now with a good start we can be there, we can fight. I think in Jeddah it was quite easy [for them] to overtake because they had a better top speed – it was a choice – but on some occasions, we will have other opportunities.”
Vasseur continued by saying that he is happy that Ferrari had a better start compared to last year, and the SF24 is an easier car to drive and a good base to start with. To add to that, Ferrari also has a few updates ready to further develop the car.
“I am not focused at all on the championship, but I think we scored something like 45 points [actually 49] overall, and last year after three races we had 25 [actually 26]. It’s important to have a good start.
“Also, I think the fact that the car is, I don’t want to say easy to drive, and in any case, it doesn’t have anything to do with the performance, but I think the car today is easier to drive than one year ago.
“This is a good base for the development, because the car is much easier to read for the drivers, so it is much easier to understand where we have to improve, and in this situation, it’s a step forward for us for the overall picture.”