Vasseur explains Ferrari’s VSC strategy call as they leave Australia ‘in a good shape’

Fred Vasseur has outlined the thinking behind Ferrari’s decision not to pit under the Virtual Safety Car in the Australian Grand Prix, the team boss suggesting that there is plenty for the Scuderia to work on in order to close the performance gap to Mercedes.

Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton pulled off some of the best starts on the grid at lights out, with the Monegasque driver fighting George Russell for the lead while Hamilton improved from P7 to P3 in the opening corners.

However, Leclerc’s opportunity to challenge for victory appeared to take a hit as Ferrari opted to keep their drivers out under the VSC while their rivals pitted for fresh tyres. They didn’t take the chance to save time in the pits but were nevertheless able to finish on the podium with Leclerc, as Hamilton narrowly missed out in P4.

“We targeted the optimum for us, and the optimum was to extend,” Vasseur explained after the race. “Now we are also a bit surprised. I think Mercedes also, with the life of the tyres, I think we could have done 300 laps today.

“But it is like it is. I think they still had, during the race, a delta of performance with us. The issue is the VSC, the call, and just the pure pace.”

It’s difficult to predict how the race would have unfolded had Ferrari used the VSC to their advantage, leaving Vasseur keen to focus on the learnings they can take into the next few rounds, including how to improve in Qualifying trim.

Asked to sum up his overall feelings from Australia, he said: “The feeling is more positive than something else. We had a tough Saturday. I think we didn't put everything together yesterday.

“We were eight tenths off. It was quite tough, but we recovered part of this today. It's good to have two cars fighting at the top. We know that we have a very long list of improvements, but it's true for us, it's true for everybody on the grid.

“The result of the season will be based on the capacity that we have to develop, to bring upgrades, to produce quickly. And this will be key for the season for everybody on the grid. I prefer to start the season in a good shape than in a bad shape, but it's still a long way to go.”

While their one-lap pace was significantly behind Mercedes, the Maranello outfit undoubtedly had the advantage of being quicker off the line, which proved to be crucial in their final race result that saw Hamilton take the chequered flag 35 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Lando Norris.

Prompted to expand on just how strong their start was, Vasseur added: “We were expecting to have a good start, but it's really on the edge. The window is very narrow. The start was good, but it's not a guarantee for the season. The pace [in Qualifying], honestly, we didn't do the best session of our life.

“But we were there, and today the race pace was probably a bit better. It's difficult, but if you compare with McLaren and with Red Bull and with Mercedes, we did probably a step forward in the race pace. But again, it's one event, the first one, that we have a mega long list of things that we are convinced that we have to do a better job.

“But this is true also for my competitors, I think, and let's work on it. Next week, China will be a completely different story. In terms of energy, it's almost the opposite. Conditions will be much colder and we'll have the Sprint format.

"It means that much less time to adapt the strategy. It will be a completely different exercise. Let's see where we'll be next week.”