Vasseur responds to 'harsh' claims over Ferrari's race pace

Frederic Vasseur has hit back at claims that Ferrari was off the pace during the Monaco Grand Prix weekend.

The team was outscored by Mercedes after Charles Leclerc was handed a grid penalty for a block on Lando Norris in qualifying. The Monegasque ultimately finishing his home race sixth.

Carlos Sainz also crashed in qualifying and dropped out the top five during the race following multiple misadventures, as he grew frustrated of being behind the Alpine of Esteban Ocon.

After the race, Leclerc said the team had "a lot of work to do" to find more performance and claimed they are "too far away" from rivals Red Bull.

But the Ferrari team boss believes it would be 'harsh' to say they were off the pace in Monaco, given their relative pace shown in qualifying.

"At the end of the day we are P3 in qualifying, less than one tenth off pole and two hundredths off the front row. I don't think that it was a disaster," he told media, including RacingNews365.com.

"We made some mistakes over the weekend; team and drivers together. But to say that the pace was not there in Monaco, I think it's a bit harsh.

"I think that the win was possible. The drivers came to Monaco with a lot of expectation and we also [did] as a team."

Vasseur: Barcelona more relevant

Ferrari's race pace Miami was also a cause for concern among their drivers, after they finished 42 seconds behind Red Bull and 10 seconds behind Mercedes and Aston Martin.

However, Vasseur is undeterred about any potential threats to their ability to finish regularly in the top five and believes Barcelona will be a more relevant for them.

"The race in Miami we didn't show good pace, but the qualifying in Miami we were fighting for pole position and [in] the qualifying of Monaco we're [also] fighting for pole," explained Vasseur.

"In the race of Monaco, I would say that nobody knows. I think next week already we'll have a better view on the race pace, because Barcelona is probably more relevant."

Ferrari will introduce the first of many upgrades it has planned in Barcelona, as part of an ambitious plan to challenge Red Bull during the mid-point of the season.