Vasseur outlines crucial factor as Ferrari eye success

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has outlined a key factor in Ferrari's hunt for success this season.

The Italian squad emerged victorious at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, with Carlos Sainz securing the win ahead of team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Its chances of winning were boosted when Max Verstappen suffered a terminal brake issue early in the grand prix.

Sainz and Ferrari are the only pairing to defeat Red Bull in the last 26 races, with the Milton Keynes-based outfit enjoying a highly dominant stretch in F1.

When asked if it is important for Ferrari to have a strong baseline from the start of FP1 in order to defeat its rivals, Vasseur told media including RacingNews365: “Even last year it was like this, I think that we were ready quite soon into the weekend.

“But now when you have small issues or reliability issues or not a clean weekend, you are losing time.”

Consistent form

Vasseur praised Ferrari for having a consistent start to the season which assisted in its delivery of a grand prix win in Melbourne.

“And when you're in front of Red Bull, you can't lose one lap,” Vasseur said.

“I think it's from the beginning of the season we had very consistent sessions from FP1 to quali.

“We were a bit disappointed after the [Melbourne] quali, because we have the feeling that we could have done a better job.

“But considering that the race was more based on the tyre management and tyre degradation, it was not a drama. And today was a good example.”