Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur says that the team “did a very strong job” to win two Formula 1 races in eight days in Austin and Mexico City.
Vasseur says that the SF-24 showed good pace in the previous races in Baku and Singapore, but the team did execute as well as it could have done.
In contrast in the last two races everything has gone to plan, with the team logging four podiums and moving ahead of Red Bull into second place in the World Championship.
“We had a good weekend,” said Vasseur when asked by formu1a.uno if he was proud of the team after the Mexican race.
“And I was a bit frustrated after Baku/Singapore, because I had the feeling that the pace was there, that the performance, we were able to fight for pole position and even more. And we didn’t execute the weekend pretty well.
“And if you want to perform first, you need to have a good car, but then you need to do a good job. And we struggled a little bit.
“We struggled a little bit also in the journey of the season, after Canada, or after Monaco. And when you have a look on the championship, you say, okay like this, we have to do a better job.
“In the last two or three weekends I have the feeling that it’s much more under control from the start, the pit stop, the strategy.
“For sure when the pace is there, it’s everything much easier. The strategy it’s much easier when you are a bit faster than a bit slower. But overall, I think we did a very strong job this week.”
In recent races the team has focussed on honing the package that it introduced at the Italian GP, and which was successful straight away.
“The fight is very, very tight,” he said. “It means that we are all a bit on the edge for one or two tenths, you can move from a very good weekend to a poor one, because the race, when you are not in clean air, it’s a completely different story.
“And sometimes when you bring something you need one or two weekends to be used to set up the car, and it’s probably what’s happened with us.
“The last time that we brought something, I think was Monza, the big one. But we were not sure, perhaps at the beginning we are thinking that perhaps it’s track related.
“And then we have two street circuits in a row with Baku and. Singapore, and it’s only in Austin that we came back to a more conventional circuit to draw conclusions. But it’s true that from Monza, we are in a much better place.”
Vasseur says it was key that the team took a step back on spec earlier in the season after updates didn’t bring the expected gains.
“It’s true that the reaction of the team was a very good one,” he said. “I don’t remember the sequence, but probably UK or Spain, when we struggled a little bit to be able to accept that we have to do a step back, and honestly we lost probably one or two weekends in terms of pure pace.
“But it was a good move and a good call, and then we were back into a decent pace at the end of July, in Spa or Budapest we were back, and it was a very good call from the team.”
“I think it’s important for us to have no distraction,” he said. “But we are clear for months now on this, to be focused on what we are doing, on the car, on the management of the team, to take the race, race after race, and not to think about the global picture. And I think it’s paying off today.”
