Ferrari jump to second place in the teams’ standings after a great run of races at Imola, Monaco and Barcelona
Having endured a tough start to the season, Ferrari have jumped now to the second place in the teams’ standings after a run of three successful races from Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton.
Ferrari made slight improvements to the qualifying pace of its SF25 at Barcelona which enabled Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to qualify fifth and seventh on the grid respectively.
The Italian outfit had expected to display an even better race pace given their form swing between qualifying and races, and they really had the upper hand over Mercedes while Leclerc matched race winner Oscar Piastri’s pace at certain times of the 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix.
The Monegasque looked on for fourth after a two-stop strategy, but the safety car restart opened new opportunities for Leclerc. Max Verstappen had a huge moment at the restart, and Leclerc was able to to pick off the reigning champion into Turn 1.
As for his team-mate Lewis Hamilton, things looked good at the start as he managed to pick off his his former team-mate George Russell. However, he struggled to keep his tyres alive and was asked by Ferrari to let Leclerc past early on in the race.
The seven-time F1 champion played a long game, but an undercut strategy from Mercedes saw Russell overtake Hamilton after the second round of pit stops. After the safety car restart, he was even passed on merit by Hulkenberg, his Ferrari just not working for him today.
With Ferrari having jumped to second place in the teams' standings following a tough start to the season, the Scuderia's team boss Fred Vasseur has praised his squad for the improvements achieved in the last three rounds.
"It’s always good to finish on the podium, and this result, following the one in Monaco confirms we’re building momentum. We’ve now had three strong races in a row and have moved back up to second place in the Constructors’ championship, which is a positive step.
"Today’s race was quite intense. Like most teams, we struggled to clearly understand the performance delta between the Medium and Soft tyres. In the end, we saw better pace and consistency on the Soft, which played into our hands with Charles at the end.
"Of course the Safety Car also helped, as it allowed us to get ahead of Verstappen, who was on Hards. It was a good recovery, and the strategy worked.
Vasseur continued: "Lewis also had strong pace until the final stint, where he reported some balance issues. We’ll look into it, but it was important that still managed to bring home some points.
"Since Miami, we’ve shown consistent progress, apart from qualifying in Imola. McLaren is still ahead, but we’re closing the gap step by step. We need to keep improving, and stay in the fight."
