Ferrari’s Frédéric Vasseur: “It’s a morale booster for the whole team to finish on the podium”

Scuderia Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur felt that the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was a successful showing for the team, with Charles Leclerc taking third place and Carlos Sainz finishing fifth. 

“Overall, this has been a positive weekend for the team. We took two pole positions and one podium finish with Charles and our overall points total, thanks also to Carlos’ fifth place, is satisfactory.”

After a weekend devoid of points at the Australian Grand Prix, Vasseur felt that the team was finally able to showcase the improvements that they’ve made to the car.

“There were signs of progress in Melbourne, but they were overshadowed by the poor race result. In the four week break, we worked hard in Maranello and here in Baku we have made further progress which translated into a good result.”

Vasseur said that he was pleased with their one-lap pace during qualifying, but is aware that there is still much to be done in order to contend for race wins against Red Bull Racing. Nonetheless, he said it was great for the team to have their first podium on the books for 2023.  

“We definitely are back to where we wanted to be in terms of qualifying, but there’s still a significant gap to Red Bull in the race. However, we aim to fight them for the win and we are gearing up to do just that.”

“It’s a morale booster for the whole team to finish on the podium, something which we will carry forward as we prepare for next weekend’s race in Miami.”

Ferrari remains fourth in the constructors’ championship after the fourth round of the FIA Formula 1 World Championship season, narrowing their gap to Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula 1 Team in third place down to fourteen points.