Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur is pleased with the gains they have made following their setback at the start of the year.
“I think we are improving from the beginning of the season to today,” said Vasseur. However he admitted they need to continue their progress to regain their race-winning form of last year.“The initial goal was to fight for the championship but I think [that was] true for us [and] it’s true for McLaren, for Red Bull and for Mercedes. We are all in this mood to fight for the championship at the beginning of the season.
“I think if you compare with expectations, probably McLaren is one step ahead compared to everybody and we didn’t do a good job on our side. Just speaking about us – Ferrari – we didn’t do a good job [in a] couple of races. We had the disqualification in China, we were 60 points behind Red Bull and Mercedes at this stage of the season.
“Overall, I think we had a decent recovery, at least compared to Red Bull, Mercedes. Compared to McLaren, they are still one step ahead. It means we have to continue to try to do a better job each day and improve.
“I had the feeling that on some occasions this year, we missed opportunities and we didn’t do the same level of job as we did last year, let’s say. And this, clearly, we need to improve.”
Ferrari were only seventh in the championship after the first round of the season. They rose to second prior to last weekend’s race.
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The team’s car has often been competitive over a race distance but is weaker compared to the competition in qualifying. Vasseur agreed the team has raised its game in other areas, such as its pit work, but must increase its rate of improvement.
“If you compare with the beginning of ’23, ’24, we did a good step forward on operations: strategy, pit stops, even reliability. But still, we are behind McLaren.
“At the end, the target is not to do a good job. The target is to do a better job than the others.”
He said McLaren is “the best example” of how to rebound from a setback. The team made a poor start to the 2022 championship but rebounded over the following years and hold a dominant position in the constructors’ championship today.
“In 2022–23, they had a very harsh season,” he said. “They were at the back, but they were focused. They worked on their own, and they improved step-by-step. And it’s, I think, what every single team wants to do.
“I have huge respect for the 10 teams on the grid. I know all of them, they are competitors, they are racers. And when we are not doing well, we are aware.
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“It means we are trying to put everything together, we are pushing, and the most important is to be able to do your own job. That’s sometimes where we are struggling a little bit.”
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Ideals (@ideals)
21st June 2025, 10:14
Not sure how that translates to performance, seems to me Ferrari is in exactly the same position it’s been in since the start of the season, so not sure what they’re recovering to exactly.
Smart play would be to throw this season into the bin, focus every resource on next year, work on replacing the strategy team and overall culture within the team, and then pray that 2026 will finally be the year so to not reach two decades of no championships.
MichaelN
21st June 2025, 11:58
Seems like a lot of wishful thinking. Ferrari was genuinely competitive only in China, and after that? Leclerc in Monaco perhaps. It’s slim pickings anyway. They still haven’t won a proper Grand Prix.
Vasseur has now been at the helm for a couple of years and has been able to make a bunch of key personnel changes. The results are not looking good.
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
21st June 2025, 19:33
Vasseur is talking about Charles side of the garage. I honestly don’t think Ferrari care about Hamilton at all, who managed a win in China after limited setup time.
In fact it looks like Hamilton is more competitive, the less practice everyone gets, so to be honest Hamilton’s start was pretty good, but it becomes worse as the year moves on and guys like Charles continue to improve as the team is built around him.
The car isn’t bad, the power unit isn’t Merc, so yeah, good luck, F1 wanted Max to end Hamilton, not Leclerc, Leclerc is a nice side item for Ferrari, but it’s clear that the political pull Ferrari have in F1 isn’t what it used to be. Red Bull definitely had an argument about how their v6 hybrid era was a HUGE LOSS for them in terms of investment, so it’s easy to see how F1 allowed Red Bull to become hyper-dominant after 2021, but clearly they pulled the plug on that last year, and it’s not the case anymore.
What do we know :
Ferrari works better with the softer tires, McLaren works better with the harder tires, Merc are spotty, Red Bull are better on softer tires too. Merc Power unit is still top notch, still a lot better than the rest, and watching everyone try to ignore that fact, is hilarious. So Ferrari don’t have a bad car, but they are really only interested in superseding Hamilton, which is horrible IMO, the guy doesn’t deserve to be discarded by F1 after it stole his 2021 championship from him, but that is exactly what appears to be happening. Maybe Ferrari can change my mind, but it’s pretty clear who has priority, and who is getting better as time moves forward.
So Ferrari can keep lying, being ridiculous and entitled if they want. It’s not going to help them succeed with the newer motor formula. F1 pretending it’s competitive by using garbage, overly soft tires to slow down a much faster team (like McLaren, or Merc) by changing it’s rules, and threatening to fine and destroy drivers who speak their mind, it all reads pretty poor.
MichaelN
22nd June 2025, 9:39
Indeed, and this is hugely important. F1 is an engineering competition in some, limited, ways, but it’s the politics that decide what gets engineered and what doesn’t. Since the unfortunate death of Marchionne, Ferrari is no longer a serious political force. Red Bull and Mercedes run the show on that front.
Dex
21st June 2025, 12:08
“Decent” doesn’t exist in a sport with only ten participants, and you’re in the top two when it comes to resources. That’s not fair, of course, but it’s also a fact. You don’t get to be “decent” for years. You either get there, or you don’t. And Ferrari is not on the upward trajectory. This season it’s quite the opposite.
Konstantinos
21st June 2025, 23:44
It seems to me like Ferrari are destined to always be almost great, the last piece of the puzzle always missing. Its indicative that even with Mercedes in the performance low that they were you still would have more faith in them systematically recovering back to the top than Ferrari who are perpetually almost there but never actually there there
As a side note this thought does put Hamilton’s decision into perspective, surely he knew that Ferrari are likely to not get it together for him to be winning consistently. But I guess you never know, join a team as it reaches to the top and you are considered a genius.
Anyway, I hope they improve, the more fighting for wins the better.
SteveP
22nd June 2025, 9:18
There’s a very big financial contribution by Ferrari to projects that LH is working on to take into account.
Would he chase extra personal wealth (he’s already richer than he could ever have dreamed when a schoolboy) or would he choose to have ongoing income for those projects for many years to come – oh, and it’s the red car, and they might come good. It’s not statistically impossible.
SteveP
22nd June 2025, 9:20
That was supposed to only embolden the two words – sigh.
There’s a very big financial contribution by Ferrari to projects that LH is working on to take into account.
Tomcat173 (@tomcat173)
23rd June 2025, 2:48
Agree with these comments – Ferrari always seem to be close to competing for the championship, but are always not quite strong enough to put a proper challenge in. It’s been a long time since the days of Schumacher dominance.. recruiting numerous multiple world champions also doesnt seem to be enough to make the difference.
For Hamilton, aside from the move making sense based on where Mercedes were at last year… I can’t help but think that he was willing to take a long shot on Ferrari becoming more competitive.. and even if they aren’t competitive, he looks like he’s become much happier on a personal basis.
RBAlonso (@rbalonso)
22nd June 2025, 11:45
As a Ferrari fan, I’ll be honest that this season has been a massive disappointment. However, I do trust that Fred is the right man and that the progress is broadly in the right direction.
I think it’s important to remember that Ferrari were the form team at the back end of last year. Charles had a horror run between Canada and Britain (3 non scores and a 5th) but in the other 20 rounds he was only 5th twice. The other 18 he was in the top 4. Against Red Bull and McLaren, which had better cars over the course of the season, that is solid. 5 wins for the team was also strong, Ferrari have won 5 or more races 3 times since 2008 (2010,17,18(6)). Yes there were more races but it’s good form.
This season the car struggles in high speed with compression and needs a suspension change. That will happen next weekend. Truthfully, if that works, Ferrari should be much more competitive. Hamilton was always going to use 2025 as a transitional season, I think his results can be largely ignored and Charles is driving well – his strategies have been nowhere near as bad as before and the team radio sometimes creates a false narrative.
Ferrari always have to win, I get that, but throwing the baby out with the bathwater won’t help either. Fred’s reign has been solid, this is a bad pump in the road but the signs are positive overall.
SteveP
22nd June 2025, 13:57
It wouldn’t help, but it would, unfortunately, be historically consistent.
I notice MB is unhelpfully sniping from the wings, when he should be concentrating on what he can do for Audi; or maybe the comments do help Audi.
Ajaxn
22nd June 2025, 16:35
Ferrari is looking to its engineers to provide the improvements, when the fact is that every aspect of Ferrari could be more professional. From strategy, to pit stops, to of course its race engineers. They seem so backwards compared to the leading teams. Dinosaursm, expecting to win on their past reputation alone.
Konstantinos
23rd June 2025, 11:39
I just found a stat out that will blow the mind of the entire Racefans community, is everyone ready?
In out of the 10 races we have had so far, Ferrari had the quickest pit stop in 8 of them. And the even weirder part: Sauber have the other 2.
So props to the pit stop people, they seem to be doing better.
Pinak Ghosh (@pinakghosh)
23rd June 2025, 16:51
Ferrari is hardly ever competing for poles since China and its not clear listening to Vasseur which are the problem areas. It is another season to write off.