Vasseur praises Ferrari for complete upturn in form after disastrous qualifying

F1 Grand Prix, GP Emilia-Romagna, Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari

On the back of a disastrous showing in qualifying, Ferrari displayed a very competitive race pace at the 63-lap Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, leaving Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur to praise the Scuderia's SF25 tyre management.

Ferrari endured a difficult qualifying day on home turf at Imola as Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton ended up only 11th and 12th respectively.

After a poor qualifying, the team took an aggressive approach to the race, splitting the strategies between the two drivers, with Leclerc starting from 11th on Medium tyres and Hamilton from 12th on Hards.

The Monegasque passed Isack Hadjar and Pierre Gasly ealy on, and he took an aggressive approach by pitting for hards on Lap 10. The move paid off and he was able to undercut several cars, getting up to eighth, thanks also to a strong pace.

The Virtual Safety Car was required on lap 29 when Esteban Ocon parked at the side of the track, and Ferrari brought its teo drivers in for fresh tyres. At the restart, Hamilton was seventh and Leclerc tenth. On fresh rubber, the SF-25s passed both the Aston Martins, Kimi Antonelli and Hadjar, rapidly moving up to fifth and sixth places.

However, there was another interruption on Lap 46 when Antonelli had to park at the side of the track in a position from which it was difficult to have the car removed and so the Safety Car was brought into play.

Hamilton came in again for a set of hards, rejoining the action in seventh place. By contrast, Leclerc stayed out in fourth place as he had no more sets of medium or hards available.

At the restart, Hamilton made good use of his new tyres to pass George Russell and set off in pursuit of Alex Albon, who was fighting with Leclerc. As the Monegasque and the Thai driver were fighting hard, Hamilton managed to slip past Albon when the Williams driver cut the first chicane, which allowed Hamilton to slip past.

The seven-time F1 champion then got ahead of his team-mate to take fourth place. For the last two laps, he then pursued third placed Oscar Piastri who was on old tyres, but the Australian was able to hang on. By contrast, Leclerc was asked by the team to give back position to Albon after the move at the first chicane, which was under investigation, as any penalty could have cost him several places.

Assessing the Scuderia's race at Imola, Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur was left to praise the SF25's race pace after the disastrous showing in qualifying.

“The positive side of today was that our pace was strong from start to finish. We had a good strategy and the pit stops were well executed. Of course, there is some frustration because if we had qualified better, we could have finished higher up the order.

“It’s been three or four races now where we have seen this difference between quali and race pace. We must work on that, but I believe that today’s result was the best we could hope for. Lewis drove a very solid race, always running at a strong pace, pulling off some nice overtakes.

Speaking of Leclerc's afternoon at Imola, the Frenchman conceded that the interruption caused by the virtual safety car and the standard safety car presented a major blow to his race.

“As for Charles, the Virtual and real Safety Cars did him no favours and I can understand his frustration. But at the time the Safety Car came out, there were still too many laps to go to fit the Softs and I think leaving him out on the Hards was the right decision.

“In the closing stages, we asked Charles to give back position to Alex Albon, because it was very close and if he had been given a penalty, we would have lost four or five places."