Fred Vasseur calls for Ferrari investigation: 'We now have to take a deep look'

Fred Vasseur has called for a detailed Ferrari review after the Scuderia left Zandvoort with a result he felt did not reflect the pace of the SF-26.

The Italian team finished fourth and fifth with Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc, respectively, in the Dutch Grand Prix, but Vasseur believes the team must investigate why execution errors repeatedly cost it track position on an afternoon that had promised more.

The Ferrari team principal pointed to the start, pit stop execution and strategic decision-making as areas that now require closer analysis.

While the car showed competitive speed in race trim, the Prancing Horse failed to convert that potential into a podium finish, leaving Vasseur frustrated by a series of avoidable setbacks.

Hamilton was in the fight for third late on, while Leclerc had also shown enough pace to suggest Ferrari could have put greater pressure on its rivals. Instead, the team spent much of the race trying to recover from compromised moments, prompting Vasseur to insist that nothing should be overlooked in the post-race review.

"Yeah, the pace was decent in the race, but we had some issues with execution," Vasseur told Sky Sports F1. "We had a poor start with Charles on the second start. We lost position to Piastri, who was on the hards, and we lost a lot of time at this stage of the race.

"And then we had a poor pit stop with Charles, and we lost a position again. It's a kind of confusion, and it's a bit of a shame because I think the pace was strong; I think at least stronger than Mercedes.

"But it is how it is that we now have to take a deep look at what we did and what we did wrong, to understand why we lost the position at the start on softs, and to try to do better next week."

Confusion on the pit wall and Hamilton's frustrations

The problems began at the restart following Max Verstappen's opening-lap retirement, when Leclerc's sluggish getaway allowed Piastri, on harder rubber, to jump ahead. From that point, Ferrari was on the back foot, trying to recover positions that should never have been lost.

Strategy compounded the issue. Hamilton, running on a longer stint and carrying more pace than Leclerc, found himself stuck behind his team-mate and grew increasingly vocal on the radio, telling his engineers he was losing time. A delayed call to bring Leclerc in, followed by a slow pit stop, only deepened the frustration.

When asked whether there had been consideration of using Leclerc to undercut George Russell for the final podium spot, Vasseur explained the complexity of the situation.

"We had a group of people in our shadow, and we are trying to clear this group, and there was another group in front," he said. "In the end, we took an option, but the cars in front pitted, like Ocon and Lindblad, and we gave it to Russell like this."

Hamilton made his displeasure clear throughout the race, questioning his team's decision-making and at one point asking whether he was being used as a "guinea pig."

The seven-time F1 drivers' champion was closing on Russell for third in the final laps, trimming the gap to roughly seven tenths of a second, only for a late Virtual Safety Car, triggered by the Williams collision between Alex Albon and Carlos Sainz, to freeze the field on lap 70. With just one racing lap remaining when the VSC ended, Hamilton had no room to complete the pass.

Asked whether difficult conversations awaited in the debrief given Hamilton's unhappiness over time lost behind Leclerc, Vasseur acknowledged the situation.

"The story with Lewis was that at one stage we were trying to go to the end, and I think it would have been a good call also," the Frenchman stated.

"But probably we lost one second with [following] Charles. The target when you go to the end is not this one, but for sure, with what has happened after, you can always rewrite the race..."