Vasseur issues Ferrari demand in ultra-tight F1 fight

Fred Vasseur has demanded perfection from Ferrari across Formula 1 weekends in the uber-tight fight at the top of the field. 

Last time out in Canada, Ferrari flopped with a double DNF after also failing to get either Charles Leclerc or Carlos Sainz into Q3. It was the the first time both Ferraris had missed out since the 2021 Belgian Grand Prix.

It came off the back of a strong Monaco performance where the Scuderia took a one-three spearheaded by Leclerc, whose challenge in Montreal was hampered by an engine problem, whilst Sainz retired after a spin and contact with the blameless Alex Albon. 

Vasseuer has described how close the head of the field is as Ferrari looks to eat into Red Bull's lead in both championships heading to Barcelona.

"It is different from weekend to weekend, but you have six or eight cars [seperated] by just one-tenth, sometimes two-tenths," Vasseur told media including RacingNews365. 

"Remember in qualifying at Imola, we had three cars separated by thousandths, and [for qualifying in Canada,] we had two with the same time [for pole].

"If you don't have a perfect weekend, then you can't be in front and in terms of the operation, it means you cannot make a mistake." 

Racing by default

Vasseur has managed to sharpen Ferrari into a strong race team since assuming the Maranello helm in 2023, but still feels progress was made in Montreal despite the failure.

"We did a step [in Canada] if you look at the global picture, but we have to take all of the issues separately," he said.

"On one side of the garage, we lost so much horsepower at the beginning, then you can try and survive, expect a red flag, but it would always be by default. 

"In this kind of situation, with the competitors we have, you can't do racing 'by default.'