Vasseur: “We knew we would struggle in Monza, but it went worse than expected in the race, Madrid will be a good opportunity”

Ferrari’s team principal looks ahead

The race of hopes and the last call for the world title seems to have delivered the most ruthless verdict against Ferrari.

At Monza in the home race the SF-26 finished in sixth position with Lewis Hamilton, damaged at the start by Charles Leclerc who then crashed into the barriers at Parabolica at the end of the second lap.

In the Drivers’ standings Hamilton has dropped to -76 from Andrea Kimi Antonelli, in the Constructors’ ranking Ferrari is at -122 from Mercedes and now only +59 ahead of McLaren which finished ahead of Hamilton with both Norris and Piastri.

The team principal Frederic Vasseur emphasized that Ferrari knew it was doomed to suffer at Monza, although the track’s verdict was indeed without mercy: “We knew we would have a huge deficit in terms of top speed and it went like that, actually, in the race maybe a bit worse than expected – Vasseur said to Sky microphones – we were losing positions without being able to respond and we were forced to ask a lot from the tires in corners, wearing them out before the others. We have to take one race at a time trying to do the best we can every weekend, we knew Monza would be the hardest race for us, Madrid is already a good opportunity.”

Translated from

Antonelli, the first words after the triumph: “At the restart I thought ‘I have to win this one’”

Hamilton: “I am devastated. The duel with Leclerc? Blocking the positions would have gone better…”