Vassuer clears the air around Ferrari's continues development push

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has pushed back firmly on suggestions that the team’s aggressive upgrade programme could create financial pressure under Formula 1’s cost cap, insisting instead that development decisions are driven purely by performance gains rather than external narrative or speculation.

Speaking on the eve of the British Grand Prix, Vasseur addressed growing paddock discussion around Ferrari’s recent development rate and the expectation that a further engine evolution could arrive ahead of Monza.

While acknowledging that upgrades are part of the team’s ongoing push, he made clear that timing and development direction remain uncertain and tightly managed.

“You are more informed than me on the timing of the upgrade on the engine. It’s always good to come to the press conference to get information,” Vasseur said when asked about the possibility of a power unit step linked to Ferrari’s home race.

“But for sure it will be a push when we will introduce the next engine. But it’s too early to know when we will do it. First, you have to bring upgrades when you are improving the performance, and on the engine side the lead time is much longer than on the chassis side. But I have nothing else to say.”

The discussion then shifted to whether Ferrari took satisfaction from rivals reacting to their upgrade pace, with some suggesting it was a sign of strong performance direction within the Maranello-based squad. Vasseur, however, urged caution against overinterpreting form swings across different sessions and weekends.

“Yes, sure. But keep in mind the comments after Austria, OK?” he responded. “After Barcelona we are at the top, after Austria we are nowhere, after FP1, where you don’t know the level of fuel of the other teams, the upgrades are magic.

"You just have to stay calm with this. I think we are at the beginning of the car. We have still a lot of room of performance in the set-up, in the tyre management, and sometimes much bigger than the upgrade that we are bringing.

"It means that sometimes you can bring an upgrade, the upgrade is working, but you are doing a mistake on the set-up and you are out of the pace. We just have to stay calm.”

He also addressed concerns about how upgrades are interpreted publicly, particularly when teams submit lists of changes for race weekends that can sometimes appear misleading due to the way components are grouped or labelled.

“Well, if you have an idea for the next regulation, it’s welcome,” Vasseur said. “The FIA is asking us to declare what we are changing as a shape on parts but not the details.

"And we are doing it for you, to give you something to write or to say. Now, if you don’t want to get it, that’s another story. We can stop. But honestly, sometimes it’s starting to take proportion a bit. I won’t say the word.”

Finally, Vasseur responded to claims from Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff that Ferrari’s aggressive development path might risk stretching resources under the cost cap. He rejected the premise of the question and suggested the focus should remain on internal priorities rather than external commentary.

“Don’t ask me the question,” he said. “But honestly, I have no clue and I found it a bit weird. Because I think the more performance you can bring at the beginning, we are all in December, if we can bring something at the beginning we do it, and it’s better to have a couple of tenths for five races than a couple of tenths for the last two.

"But sometimes it’s difficult to find performance, sometimes a bit less. Sometimes you can have the feeling that we are bringing a big upgrade but this is just a modification of some parts, nothing else.”