Charles Leclerc was ninth and Carlos Sainz 10th in British GP; Ferrari have now gone a whole calendar year without an F1 victory; Fred Vasseur says Ferrari were too conservative during race and should have pushed on more; Sky F1 pundits analyse a "terrible" weekend for team
Tuesday 11 July 2023 07:11, UK
Charles Leclerc says Ferrari's difficulties in Sunday's British Grand Prix were worse than he had anticipated heading into the weekend.
The Scuderia endured a hugely disappointing race at Silverstone, with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz lining up P4 and P5 on the grid respectively but finishing ninth and 10th.
Pre-race, Ferrari had been targeting the two McLarens ahead of them but Leclerc never threatened Oscar Piastri when the Australian was in P3.
While both Ferrari drivers lost out with the timing of the Safety Car, which enabled some of their rivals to gain a 'free' pit stop, Leclerc conceded Ferrari's SF-23 car had lacked pace with its weakness in high-speed corners exposed at Silverstone.
"Coming into the weekend I think we expected a difficult weekend but definitely not to that extent," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.
"In Qualifying it was a bit better than what we expected, in the race I would say it was a bit worse than what we expected, so we need to work on that.
"We didn't have much degradation, just the pace of the car wasn't there. We were struggling in the first part of the race - on the first stint Mercedes and McLaren were really quick, Mercedes on the softs with George Russell was very fast.
"I managed to keep him behind and then I don't know what happened, I don't know why we [pitted] so early but I don't have the full picture on that.
"That put us on the back foot because everyone else continued a lot on the medium [tyre] that didn't have much degradation. I tried to stay pretty much at the same lap times that the guys were still out on the old medium to then push once they stopped, but then they stopped during the Safety Car and gained all the positions. Not the greatest race today.
"I was trying to attack with the new medium [after the Safety Car] but Alex [Albon] had the DRS on the car in front so it was impossible for me to make a move."
In 2022 Ferrari had won from pole position at the British GP but the team has now gone a whole calendar year without a victory in Formula 1.
While the Safety Car undoubtedly compromised Ferrari's race strategy, team principal Fred Vasseur felt their race result was hurt by not pushing hard enough during the first part of the race.
"The Safety Car was a bad situation for us for sure but it is not only this, we had also a small lack of pace," Vasseur told Sky Sports F1.
"We were probably a bit too conservative with the tyres. We were expecting more degradation and we didn't push enough."
He added: "Starting from P4, P5 we had a feeling after qualy that we could have done a much better job than this. We can't be happy finishing P9, P10.
"But now we need to have a deep look on the weekend, not just on the race. We didn't do the long stint on Friday, we long stint only the soft compound and Charles was stuck in the garage [Leclerc missed the whole of Practice Two with an electrical issue].
"And we were a bit scared with the degradation. Probably somewhere in our mind we had the first races of the season.
"Today we were far too conservative on the tyre management and we didn't push enough.
"Then we are a bit unlucky with the Safety Car - this is not in our hands and we don't have to think about this, we have to think about what we can manage.
"Honestly I think that we could have pushed much more."
Analysis from Sky Sports F1's Ted Kravitz…
"That was probably as disappointing a race as they could get. Charles Leclerc in ninth and Carlos Sainz 10th, so only three points today.
"Charles Leclerc held P4 but couldn't close on the McLarens, Sainz dropped back to George Russell.
"Both of them lost out absolutely big time to everybody else [with the Safety Car].
"Fred Vasseur called it too conservative, he's annoyed with the way it went. They were trying to pull the trigger with the pit stops and force others into pitting after them, nobody took the bait and they suffered very badly for it. They're really licking their wounds.
"Are Ferrari still ahead of Aston Martin? No, Fernando Alonso was ahead of them today, helped by the Safety Car I know. Are they still ahead of Mercedes? No, Mercedes were ahead of them today. Are they still ahead of McLaren? No, they're not. I'm afraid Ferrari are now behind those three other teams.
Analysis from Sky Sports F1 pundit Karun Chandhok…
"With Leclerc I think they pitted too early [on lap 18] as it forced him into a two-stop. He would have had such a delta when everyone pitted under the Safety Car, that last stint he would have been eaten alive. They had no choice but to pit again.
"With Carlos I think they still suffer so much with tyre wear that they couldn't go longer and put the soft tyre on. They were kind of boxed in to what they had to do.
"But ultimately it's a terrible weekend in terms of pace. They've been outpaced by their three midfield competitors and I say three because it includes McLaren now [as well as Mercedes and Aston Martin].
Analysis from Sky Sports F1 commentator David Croft…
"Ferrari before the race said crucially you've got to get your strategy right and you've got to make a decision and go with it. But then we saw the same dithering coming back again.
"This is such a big disappointment for Ferrari who have now gone a whole year since they last won a Formula 1 Grand Prix.
"They've come back to a track they won from pole at last year and been nowhere in the race."
