(Motorsports news) After both teams experienced a season full of ups and downs with their peaky vehicles, Mercedes defeated Ferrari by three points to take second place in the 2023 constructors’ championship in Abu Dhabi. Similar to its Brackley-based equivalent, Ferrari got off to a poor start in Bahrain with a vehicle that it realized was not going to be able to compete with Red Bull.
In addition to its slow racing speed, the Scuderia lost a great deal of ground all season long due to a variety of problems, errors, and dependability worries. Charles Leclerc’s start to the season was not good as he had to serve an engine penalty in Saudi Arabia after withdrawing from the opening race in Bahrain. Leclerc also pulled out of races in Australia and the Netherlands, was penalized in Austin for excessive plank wear, and crashed out of the race in Brazil due to a hydraulic problem on the formation lap.
Due to a fuel system problem in Qatar, Sainz was unable to start a race and withdrew in Belgium after making contact with Oscar Piastri of McLaren. For 2024, Vasseur urged his squad to cease conceding so many points to opponents, claiming he has mentally compiled a list of all the points lost due to careless mistakes. “We got off to a bad start in Bahrain when we had to stop, finishing in third place and receiving a penalty for the subsequent race. For Charles, it equated to about twenty-five penalty points,” he stated.
“In addition to the points we were passing along to the two Mercedes that were trailing us. “But once more, you may complete the list; it’s not only this one. Believe me, I’ve done the list a few times and know the classification without any problems; altogether, I believe that there are ups and downs throughout the season. We definitely lost out on more points than our rivals, so that’s something else we’ll need to improve on for the upcoming year in order to be more resourceful and effective.”
Vasseur said that it was “completely forbidden” to ask “what if” at Ferrari’s Maranello factory and that he preferred not to perform the calculations in public. Instead of moping over what could have been, the Frenchman will continue to gradually restructure the team’s many departments and their communication methods, focusing on preventing recurrent errors. “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 stated.
It indicates that working with ‘if’ is strictly prohibited in the factory, despite the fact that it is crucial. Since we are to blame, there is absolutely no need to provide an excuse.”That’s where we need to get better. There is undoubtedly a ton of point potential.”
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