Vasseur defends Ferrari decision after Singapore woe

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has defended the decision to split its race strategies at the Singapore Grand Prix.

The Italian outfit endured a difficult qualifying session around the Marina Bay Circuit which left Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz starting from ninth and 10th respectively.

Although both drivers started on the medium compound, Ferrari opted to pit Sainz on lap 13 to undercut some of the drivers ahead, while Leclerc did not pit until lap 36.

Leclerc was able to push forward with fresher tyres and overtook a handful of his rivals en route to fifth while Sainz settled for seventh place.

When asked if Ferrari considered being more aggressive with its strategy, Vasseur told media including RacingNews365: “To start soft, you can make one position perhaps. 

“But at the end of the day, if you want to be aggressive, you will pit lap 12 or 15 like Lewis [Hamilton] did, but you don’t have another choice because you have to pit lap 12 because you are stuck.”

Ferrari is looking at an outside shot of claiming the constructors' championship this year as it trails McLaren by 75 points.

Despite the difficult weekend in Singapore, Vasseur at least commended the strategy call to bring home points following a difficult qualifying session.

“At least to start with medium, we had the opportunity to extend, and the scenario of the race was a bit different. I think it was a good strategy,” he added.

“The fact that we split the cars to do one early stop and another one we extended was also a good call.

“It went pretty well due to the track position at this stage.”