Fred Vasseur says he’s “proud of the step” made by Ferrari in 2024 but stresses that the team still has to improve in every area heading into next season.
The Maranello outfit finished just 14 points adrift of McLaren after a season that saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz share five victories.
Vasseur, who took over as Ferrari boss at the start of 2023, said that the team made good progress this year.
“A good one, but not enough!,” he said when asked about the team’s season. “I think that if you compare with one year ago, it’s huge step forward on every single KPI [key performance indicator], everything is great, and with a good one in terms of pit stop strategy, reliability, we improved it everywhere.
“And even the term of pure performance. It’s true that at the end, 14 points are missing. And I think if you are 80 or 100 points behind, you don’t feel the frustration. At least tonight, I have tons of races in my mind where we lost 14 points this season, but it is like it is.
“McLaren also had some issues, and it’s just that we have to do a better job next year. But I’m also quite proud of the step that we did.”
Vasseur made it clear that several weekends had been particularly expensive for the team.
“I think on the paper Canada was a good one for us,” he said. “And we came back from Canada with a double zero. That was a bit harsh. And we had three or four races in a row with the upgrade, when we struggled a little bit.
“This period, I think we lost something like 80 or 90 points on McLaren. Then we had a tough weekend like Baku, even if we did a P2 with Charles, but I think we were in a position to do a much better job than only P2.
“Singapore was a tough one, with the two car ninth and tenth in quali, I think we could expect much better. But this is true also for McLaren now, if you have a look at I think that McLaren, if you go through the season, you can find tons of points, but my job is also to try to minimise these losses.”
Vasseur stressed that one of the positives of the season was the way the team reacted in adversity.
“What is giving me confidence is more the step that we did compared to one year ago, the capacity that we had to react in the tough moment of the season,” he said.
“Because it’s where you can see that the team is working as a team. When you are winning, everybody is nice, everybody’s best friends.
“I would say that this kind of weekend are quite easy to manage. It’s when you are in the tough moment that the reaction is important. And we reacted each time very, very well. In June we came back as soon as possible with solutions.
“Everybody was pushing in the same direction, and quite also pleased with the reaction of the drivers. We had a tough weekend in Vegas, and they acted very, very, very well, and I think it’s why we were so performant this weekend.“
He added: “I think it was that the fact that we improved, and that we were able to react in the tough moments. Because to have a good dynamic, positive dynamic, to do good results, it’s one thing.
“But to react when you are in the shit, like we were in Spain, Austria, it’s quite important for the future of the team. It’s on this kind of reaction that we are building up the future, the trust that we can have each other. And I think it was the most important step of the season.“
Vasseur also paid tribute to the departing Sainz, who starts his Williams career with a filming day on Monday.
“I asked to everybody, at least on track, to be focused on 2024 until the end,” he said. “And I asked the same to Carlos, beginning of the season.
“And I think we did very well. And he did very well. He was amazing all the season, even when he was discussing with other teams, he stayed very professional, very dedicated, and he did a brilliant job.“
