Spanish GP, Ferrari focused on qualifying
Enough with being Friday champions. This seems to be the mantra of Frederic Vasseur at the end of the first day of free practice of the 2026 Spanish GP at the Madring: the team principal of Ferrari explained how FP1 and FP2 – as always happens on other tracks, but even more so at Madring which is new for everyone and where no team really has real data to guide the car setup choices – are interim sessions and say nothing about how the weekend will evolve. Especially since the asphalt of the Madrid circuit also showed a very rapid and unpredictable evolution, which is what the pole position battle on Saturday will be about.
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Fred Vasseur’s comment
“I think the right setup is the one that then works well in qualifying – explains the French manager after the end of FP2 – and not in the first free practice on Friday. We know there will be a huge evolution of the track, even during each single session and what will be really crucial will be to predict the grip that the drivers will find in Q3 and be ready. It makes no sense to be the best in free practice but not in qualifying.”
Vasseur also commented on the debut of the Madring, a circuit with a rather varied layout that seems to combine the characteristics of many other tracks on the calendar: “It is a challenge since it features practically all types of corners of the season and is a good exercise for the engineers. But in the end it is also difficult to estimate what the evolution of grip will be between FP3 and qualifying and even during qualifying. But energy management in the high-speed section is also difficult, and I think the key will be to estimate the pace that will be in Q3”.
The final remark is for Charles Leclerc, on whose ADUO-2 engine dismantled as a precaution the Ferrari boss does not commit but laughs: “If I can clarify something about his power unit? No, I can’t and I certainly won’t but you did well to try.” “In any case, I think Charles is always confident on this type of track. It seems to me that he loves it and is getting good results, but it was not obvious after Monza. Anyway, I am very satisfied,” concluded Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur
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