Vasseur reveals why Ferrari's Silverstone achievement was a "mega-positive result for the team"

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur praised his squad's turnaround after Charles Leclerc claimed an emotional victory at the British Grand Prix, describing the result as a "mega-positive" outcome following a weekend in which the Scuderia had expected to struggle.

Leclerc delivered a commanding performance to secure his first victory of the 2026 Formula 1 season. After overtaking polesitter Kimi Antonelli at the start, the Monegasque controlled the opening stint and only briefly surrendered the lead during the pit stop cycle. Once Antonelli completed his stop, Leclerc reclaimed first place.

The closing laps appeared set for a tense fight as Antonelli, equipped with fresher tyres, reduced the gap to just 3.7 seconds. However, problems with the Mercedes driver's wheel shield halted his charge, allowing Leclerc to pull away and comfortably secure victory.

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, Lewis Hamilton's race proved considerably more eventful. Running second in the early stages, the seven-time world champion was handed a time penalty for moving at the start.

Serving the penalty during his first pit stop dropped him down the order, but he fought back strongly, overtaking Max Verstappen to reclaim second place.

A late Safety Car prompted Ferrari to make one final strategic gamble, bringing Hamilton into the pits for fresh soft tyres. The stop dropped him behind George Russell, leaving him to finish third after the race resumed.

Hamilton's afternoon was further complicated by a post-race investigation into an alleged yellow flag infringement, although the stewards issued only a reprimand.

Despite missing out on a one-two finish, Vasseur was delighted with Ferrari's overall performance, particularly given the team's modest expectations heading into the weekend.

"This is a mega-positive result for the team, especially as we came to Silverstone expecting quite a challenging race," said Vasseur.

"Here at the track and back in the factory, everyone did a very good job to close the gap to those ahead. Charles was able to stay in front and in the end we finished P1 and P3."

The Ferrari boss reserved special praise for Leclerc, whose confidence had been questioned after several difficult weekends.

"I am particularly pleased for Charles as he had to deal with some challenges these last few weeks. Here at Silverstone he was able to regain his confidence in the car and was immediately rewarded with this result."

Vasseur also defended the team's late strategic call on Hamilton, despite it ultimately costing the Briton second place.

"As for Lewis, he dropped to third with the Safety Car," he explained. "I think stopping him was the right decision as we were quite sure the race would have been restarted and with the Soft tyres it would have been quite easy for him to overtake Russell."