Vasseur: Ferrari will take positives from 'very good' Zandvoort pace

Ferrari had strong pace, argues Vasseur

Immediately after the summer break, Ferrari once again found themselves at odds with the SF-25.

On race day, the car designed in Maranello actually showed reasonable performance.

Hamilton was being held up until his crash, whilst Leclerc was within touching distance of the podium until his Antonelli clash.

Prior to the Grand Prix, however, Ferrari were unable to optimise their package.

The headaches began in Friday Practice, when both drivers were almost a second behind the McLaren’s.

Leclerc described his FP1 and FP2 sessions as the worst of the season – highlighting the team’s poor start.

Saturday qualifying was slightly better, with Ferrari avoiding any early eliminations in Q1 or Q2.

In this sense, team principal Fred Vasseur believes there are positives the team can take from Zandvoort.

Looking beyond the result, Vasseur argues that Ferrari recovered well after Friday Practice:

“Overall, this has been a tough weekend.

“We had a very poor Friday, after which the entire team and the drivers did a good job to recover so that we had decent pace today…

“We knew Zandvoort wouldn’t suit us, and the positive we can take away is that we had very strong pace today.

“But of course it’s not good to head home with zero points.

“As for next week in Monza, we expect to be in better shape and it will be important to have a much better Friday than we did here.”

The battle for second intensifies

Vasseur is correct to identify that Ferrari were competitive on race day, especially given Zandvoort’s characteristics.

Other circuits should be more suited to the SF-25, which will surely be in contention for podium finishes in the coming rounds.

At the same time, Ferrari must be weary of their vulnerabilities.

Red Bull managed to secure their first double-points finish since Imola, closing the gap to P2 in the standings.

Tsunoda’s P9 finish was in spite of many factors (Safety Car timing, a late power issue) going against him.

Moving forward, it is not unreasonable to expect both Red Bull’s to be regularly in the points.

Mercedes, meanwhile, built on their impressive Hungarian GP to show solid pace once again.

Putting aside Kimi Antonelli’s crash, the 18-year-old’s pace was solid on race day.

As previously explained on LWOS, Mercedes have reverted to their old suspension – having concluded their mid-season update was counter-productive.

This is something both drivers will benefit from, but Antonelli is likely to see a greater benefit, given his struggles with the upgraded suspension.

In this environment, Ferrari cannot take second place in the constructors for granted.

Lewis Hamilton also has to serve a 5-place grid penalty for the Italian GP, following a yellow flag infringement before the lights went out in The Netherlands.

This adds another obstacle for the Scuderia to overcome in Monza, though they are still optimistic about their chances on home soil.