Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has highlighted how the F1 season starting with a double-header gives the Scuderia the chance to "turn the page and move on immediately" after a difficult Australian Grand Prix. The paddock heads directly to Shanghai after the round in Melbourne, where the Italian team severely underwhelmed after a winter of anticipation following Lewis Hamilton's switch from Mercedes. Having scored just five points at Albert Park, it is the Maranello squad's worst start to an F1 season since 2009, when it went scoreless in the opener. After locking out the fourth row of the grid in qualifying, Ferrari misjudged the late-race wet weather, consigning Charles Leclerc to eighth place and Hamilton to tenth. Vasseur was keen to point out how different the Shanghai International Circuit is, as well as how the Chinese Grand Prix is the first sprint weekend of the year. "It’s good that we are back on track just a few days after racing in Australia, as Shanghai will give us the opportunity to turn the page and move on immediately," the 56-year-old said. "The Chinese track has completely different characteristics to Albert Park and with this being the first sprint weekend of the season, it also means there are more points up for grabs."
New track surface at the Shanghai International Circuit
However, sprint events are a double-edged sword, as Vasseur went on to explain. He also zeroed in on the "completely "renewed" track surface for the 2025 edition of the race in China. "From a technical point of view, the work we have carried out in the Maranello simulator for this event takes on even greater importance, as we only have one hour of free practice, during which one of the tasks will be to get an initial idea of the track surface, which has been completely renewed for this year," the Frenchman said. Nonetheless, he remains optimistic, given both his drivers enjoy racing at the circuit: "Charles and Lewis both like the Shanghai track and we must ensure we do everything we can to allow them to get the most out of the SF-25."
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