“Were a Bit Afraid”: Frederic Vasseur Assumes Responsibility for Crimes Against Charles Leclerc and Co. After Being Slapped with Story of the Year Reality Check

Despite the massive managerial changes and despite consistent upgrades, Ferrari’s misery does not seem to end. The Italian team secured a P2 finish a week ago thanks to Charles Leclerc. However, just a week later, Ferrari was back to its inconsistent self making strategic errors, costing its drivers the race. The race in which Leclerc and Carlos Sainz qualified P4, and P5 saw them slip down to P9 and P10, respectively. However, the two cannot be blamed, as their race was hampered by the wrong tire strategy. Not shying away, Ferrari’s TP, Frederic Vasseur, even assumed responsibility for adding to the long list of race disasters.

Making strategic errors during a race has become a common occurrence for Ferrari. The Italian team’s 2022 season was marred with such calls, resulting in losing precious points. In fact, Sainz’s radio message after the race sums up the brutal reality for Ferrari. He said, “Feel like we deserved a bit more than that but anyway. Story of the year.” The heartbreaking message was enough to reveal the plight of the drivers and Vasseur’s comments, as quoted by Auto Journal, only highlighted the misery.

“I think we did everything backwards with the safety car,” lamented the Frenchman. “We stop just before the safety car and go from fifth and sixth to ninth and tenth. I think we weren’t aggressive with the tires on all the stints. We were a bit afraid of the deterioration as we hadn’t driven on Friday, and that put us in the wrong. There wasn’t much deterioration on Sunday, we just weren’t ambitious enough,” concluded Vasseur.

Read More: Carlos Sainz Speaks Out on Lost Opportunities and Team Dynamics at Ferrari

These recurring poor strategic and internal calls are also might also draw a wedge between the team. Allow us to explain!

Ferrari’s calls might be driving a wedge between Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc

During the Austrian GP, Sainz was given team orders to stay behind Leclerc and not fight despite being in better shape. Adding insult to injury, the Spaniard lost out on a podium with slow pit stops and a time penalty. The frustrations continued at Silverstone as Sainz was instructed to stay behind Leclerc in qualifying.

However, at Silverstone, Sainz did not adhere to the instructions and overtook Leclerc during the qualifying session. These scenarios have created a lot of tension in the Ferrari garage. According to Peter Windsor, Ferrari’s at fault again for almost spoon-feeding the Monegasque.

“First of all, it’s sort of over the top I think to be sort of spoon-feeding Charles like that and imply applying team orders for quali,” said Windsor. “I think they’re both over 21 and they both know how to handle that situation and I think that gives us a bit of an Insight on how at the moment they’re sort of treating Charles with kid gloves and trying to do everything they can to make him feel super confident in the team Under the Heading of Strategy and politics.”

WATCH THIS STORY: Charles Leclerc’s Resurgence Postponed as Frederic Vasseur Still Stands Engulfed in the Trial and Error Ways of Bouncing Back

These scenarios might just break the bond the two Ferrari men share. Although, if the team keeps hampering their races, one might leave before the relationship turns sour. We might just see a new Ferrari lineup for the 2024 season.