Vasseur: Ferrari needs to make more of its opportunities in F1 2024
Ferrari Formula 1 chief Fred Vasseur has urged his team to make more of its opportunities in 2024 after having "made a list" of all the times it let valuable points slip.
Ferrari was beaten by Mercedes to second in the 2023 constructors' championship in Abu Dhabi by three points after both teams went through a season full of ups and downs with peaky cars.
Just like its counterpart from Brackley, Ferrari started off on the wrong foot in Bahrain with a car that it realised wasn't going to be a match for Red Bull.
But apart from its lack of race pace, the Scuderia also lost countless points through various issues, mistakes and reliability concerns throughout the season.
Things started off poorly for Charles Leclerc, who had to take an engine penalty in Saudi Arabia after retiring from the opening race in Bahrain.
Leclerc also retired in Australia and the Netherlands, was disqualified for excessive plank wear in Austin and failed to make the start in Brazil after crashing out with a hydraulic issue on the formation lap.
Sainz also failed to start a race, due to a fuel system issue in Qatar, and retired following contact with McLaren's Oscar Piastri in Belgium.
Vasseur called on his team to stop giving so many points away to rivals in 2024, and said he had made a list in his head of all the points dropped through unforced errors.
Photo by: Ferrari
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
"We started on the wrong foot in Bahrain when we had to stop, we were P3 and [got] the penalty for the second race. It meant for Charles it was almost 25 points of penalty," he said.
“Plus the points that we were giving to the others with the two Mercedes that were behind us.
“But again, it is not only this one – you can do the list. Trust me, I have done the list a couple of times and have it in my head the classification without the issues and overall, I think that you have ups and downs during the season.
“For sure, we gave up more points than our competitors and that means it is another topic that we need to work on for next year, to be more opportunistic and more efficient.”
Vasseur preferred not to do the maths in public and said the phrase "what if" was "completely forbidden" at Ferrari's Maranello factory.
Rather than dwelling on what could have been, instead work will go into avoiding repeat mistakes as the Frenchman continues his gradual overhaul if the team's departments and the way they communicate.
“I will keep this [lost points tally] in my mind because I hate to race with ‘if’, because everybody can race with ‘if’ and do a better job," he added.
"It means that this is completely forbidden at the factory to work with ‘if’ but it is important. It is not to find an excuse at all because it is our fault.
"It is where we have to improve. It is clearly a huge potential in terms of points.”
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