F1 GP Austin, Vasseur is full of optimism: “Ferrari victorious? Why not”

Ferrari took the entire second row of the United States GP. “A compromise result”, explains Team Principal Vasseur, the result of the Maranello engineers’ choice to focus on a set-up that should favor Leclerc and Sainz in the race. We had already had some clues on Friday when, during the only free practice session, the SF-24 seemed the best of the lot with the medium compound tyres. Important confirmations then arrived from the end of the Sprint Race: with Norris in crisis, the two Ferraris closed the gap on the Englishman thanks to record-breaking tire management and also in the race the teams will focus on medium and hard compound tyres, setting aside the soft. Good news for the Red Team, which in both qualifying sessions struggled to turn on the softer Pirellis in the high-speed direction changes of the first sector.

EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE

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With these premises, can Ferrari win? “Starting third and fourth anything is possible”, confirms Vasseur, aware that “starting with two cars in the first four positions is a great advantage”. With Piastri, Perez and Russell in difficulty, the Cavallino is the only team that has managed to get both drivers into the top 4, a significant achievement that allows the strategies between the two cars to be differentiated. Other good news, the set-ups: Ferrari, together with Red Bull, is the team that has made the fewest changes to the car after the Sprint, a further indication of the quality of the specification decided after FP1 and more focused on race management. And that’s not all: the pace of Leclerc, Sainz and Verstappen at the end of the Sprint opened up the possibility of a one-stop race. One more variable and discarded right from the start for a race that promises to be truly wide open.

Sainz et leclerc

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“We can go and get the victory,” explains Sainz. The Spaniard seemed particularly in form during the American weekend and, without Russell’s accident, he seemed to be able to aspire to something more than the third place from which he will start the GP. “We have a good car ahead of the race – confirms Leclerc, fourth – we are all close and I think we can have fun”. In short, the red duo is confident that they can do well, but be careful not to repeat the fratricidal struggle of the Sprint: “I don’t want to freeze the positions before the start, it wouldn’t be the right decision – reveals Vasseur – I trust my drivers”.