Frederic Vasseur talks about how the F1 2024 season panned out, as he notes of the good moments and how has Ferrari improved.
It was a good run for Ferrari in the end in 2024 where they were in the constructors’ fight until the final race against McLaren. They couldn’t get over the line, but they managed to beat Red Bull in the process. It is a step forward for Vasseur and co, who sees the year as a positive one.
He is not looking at races where they lost points, because it was same with McLaren as well. “Good one, but not enough,” said Vasseur to media. “I think that if you compare with one year ago, it’s a huge step forward on every single department. Everything is great. We did a good one in terms of pit stop strategy, reliability. We improved everywhere, even in terms of pure performance.
“It’s true that at the end 14 points are missing and if you are 80 or 100 points behind, you don’t feel the frustration. 14 points that you have, I have tons of races in my mind where we lost 14 points this season. But it is like it is. McLaren also had some issues and it shows that we have to do a better job next year. But I’m also quite proud of the step that we did.
“I think on the paper Canada was a good one for us and we came back from Canada with about zero. That was a bit harsh. Then we had three or four races in a row with the upgrade when we struggled a little bit. This period I think we lost something like 80 or 90 points on McLaren. Then you had a tough weekend like Baku, even if we did a P2 with Charles.
“But I think we were in a position to do a much better job than only P2. Then Singapore was a tough one with the two cars in ninth and 10th in qualy. I think we could expect much better. But this is true also for McLaren. If you have a look at things at McLaren, if you go through the season you can find tons of points. My job is also to try to minimise these losses,” summed up Vasseur.
The Frenchman joked about the Monaco moment as his best, but in seriousness, he thinks the overall improvement in every sector is his highlight. “When I jumped into the water in Monaco,” Vasseur smiled. “No, no, more seriously, I think it was the fact that we improved and that we were able to react in the tough moments.
“Because to have a good dynamic, a positive dynamic, to do good results, it’s one thing. But to react when you are in the shit, like we were in Spain and Austria, it’s quite important for the future of the team. It’s on this kind of reaction that we are building up the future, the trust that we can have each other. And I think it was the most important step of the season.”
Here’s Charles Leclerc on Carlos Sainz
Here’s Ferrari farewell to Carlos Sainz
Here’s Carlos Sainz relaying his emotions at Ferrari
Here’s Ferrari and Cadillac deal
Here’s link to a F1 Discord channel, join in to interact
