Ferrari works for title challenge
The Ferrari team is currently in fourth place in the 2023 Formula 1 season. Team principal Frédéric Vasseur said the team is working towards its title challenge.
“We've obviously had a lot of ups and downs this year so far this year,” Vasseur told Motorsport.com ahead of the Zandvoort weekend. But that doesn't mean everything we do is wrong." said.
“The hardest part of our job is figuring out what went right or why we weren't getting the results we wanted. Today we are working hard to find that last 0.2 seconds that we are missing.”
Stating that Red Bull has a significant performance advantage against other teams, Vasseur said, “Judging the numbers, it is unlikely that we will fight for the championship this year. But we have to stay positive, improve our work on the track and get the most out of the package.” said.
"I don't want to set a specific goal for the second half, but it's clear that we need to go further."
When asked about the area where they are lacking compared to Red Bull, Vasseur said, “Personally, I don't believe there is an area where Red Bull is much better than their competitors. So there is no particular secret.” said.
“They perform well in every way and that includes a lot of things like drivers, chassis, engine and strategy. I believe it's the whole package, not just one area, that makes the difference.”
“If there is a 0.2 second difference in the middle, I think it comes from 10 second advantages in 0.020 areas rather than a single point.”
Vasseur thinks the fight will be tight for the remainder of the season.
“We're in the group behind Red Bull right now. Sometimes we fought them in qualifying, but so far it has not been possible to do the same on Sunday. "We, Mercedes, Aston Martin, McLaren and sometimes even Alpine are fighting at the front and that makes the challenge exciting because once you get on the track you never know if you're going to be second or tenth."
“It's clear we want to be first and second, but it's a really tough fight. It would be wrong to speculate too much at the current situation, we are all so close that it is very difficult to predict whether we will be doing well in Zandvoort or Monza.”
“It's not just a matter of track layout. Same zamThe moment is all about weekend management, preparation, settings and drivers. All that makes a big difference on such a close grid.”
“Our goal, of course, is to do the best we can. There is a big difference between us and Mercedes right now. There were so many missed opportunities in the first episode. We need to do a better job to make the most of the opportunities.”
“We need a favorable scenario to catch up with Mercedes and we must be ready to take advantage of the opportunity if it comes. But the most important thing today is to be ahead of Mercedes both in qualifying and race pace.”
"I don't know if we will finish second at the end of the season, but we want to be ahead of Mercedes in terms of performance."
