In the second half of the event in Miami last Sunday, the radios of the Ferrari pilots, and in particular that of Lewis Hamilton, very sarcastic, will have spiced up the show and amused the public.
“Do you want me to let it go too?” »» Thus quipped Lewis Hamilton, speaking of Carlos Sainz shortly after he has relaxed Charles Leclerc.
“And you are going to make a ‘tea break’ as long as you are ‘” had also launched Lewis Hamilton to his engineer, before, when he asked that Charles Leclerc let him pass.
These radios did not help anything in the sports disaster that the Scuderia knew in Miami, the 5th force in the race, after Williams F1.
When taking stock of this sportingly lamentable as well-embarrassing Grand Prix, did Frédéric Vasseur agree to see reality in the face?
“We have not quite found the right balance this weekend, particularly in qualifying, then in the race we fought in the middle of the peloton with little chance of obtaining a better result than this one. »»
“When we were in the open air, we were close to Mercedes and Red Bull in terms of rhythm. After a race like this, there is obviously a feeling of frustration, but we must remain concentrated and continue to work hard in order to solve the problems, by managing our limitations step by step. »»
In terms of strategy, Frédéric Vasseur draws up a positive assessment of this Miami Grand Prix – remember that the sprint was already very positive with 3rd place by Lewis Hamilton, obtained in the rain.
“In terms of strategy, our choices were fair: we brought our two pilots in the virtual safety car (VSC) and this allowed Lewis to drive behind Charles. »»
Frédéric Vasseur does not see the problem after the Imbroglio of the radio
Frédéric Vasseur then spoke on the imbroglio of position changes at Ferrari.
At the end of the event, to make up for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Lewis Hamilton, in mediums, was able to exceed Charles Leclerc, who was hard. A logical choice but which has taken time to be executed. But thereafter, Lewis Hamilton proved unable to catch Andrea Kimi Antonelli, the positions were reversed again …
“Then we exchanged the cars as soon as we were sure not to put Charles in relation to the cars behind, because Lewis was in medium tires and we wanted to try to make up for Kimi Antonelli. »»
“It didn’t work, so we reversed this choice at the end according to our standard procedure. »»
For the French boss, the real culprit would be the FOM, which would have arranged the order and the timing of radio messages, on international broadcasting.
“Ok, let’s go straight to the point”, said Vasseur.
“It didn’t take so long. As I said right after the race, it was a turn and a half or something like that. And when we have two cars, not with the same strategy, the first thing for me is to understand if the other is faster when you are behind just thanks to the DRS or not. »»
“It took us a turn. It means it’s a minute thirty seconds to understand. And then we asked them to exchange. »»
“We did not know if it was the DRS effect or not”, he continued.
-“And we have made the difficult decision to exchange places, because it is never easy to ask Charles or Lewis to exchange. But we did it and they did it on track. Again, I haven’t seen many teams doing it. »»
Already in China, Frédéric Vasseur had accused the FOM of distorting radio exchanges to the Scuderia. This same excuse is therefore brandished today for Miami.
“First, you must understand that it is the FOM that manages the deadline [de diffusion] », he said.
“It means that sometimes we ask them something (to the pilots) and you have it live a U-turn later or a tour later. »»
“I have already had the case in the past. And then we have tons of information that we discuss with them about the car settings, etc. And it’s not always easy to ask them to do it before turn 11 or turn 17. ”
“But honestly, I think we did what we had to do. »»
“You can always argue that it would have been preferable to make it a front or a U-turn afterwards. But honestly, we did a good job. »»
“We have a general policy and we follow politics”, he exclaimed.
“The question is not to exchange and re-exchange if you do not catch the guy before you. »»
“The problem at this stage is to understand if the car behind is faster than the car that is in front. Or if it’s just the DRS effect. »»
Can Frédéric Vasseur say more about this policy of exchanges of positions, which apparently is not so understood by Lewis Hamilton or Charles Leclerc themselves?
“If you ask them to exchange, it is because we think that the second car is faster than the first at this stage of the race”, explained Vasseur.
“Lewis tried to catch up with the guy who was in front. And if it does not succeed, we re-exchange the places to respect the initial situation. »»
“And at this stage of the race, it was clear that we could not fight with Lewis [pour rattraper Antonelli]. So we asked them to re-exchange. »»
Hamilton tempers his anger afterwards
After the race, Lewis Hamilton, although very ironic and sarcastic on the radio, wanted to put things in perspective. The Briton says he is neither Marri nor disturbed by the policy that has been put in place in Miami.
“At that time, you say to yourself, go!” But that’s really almost everything ”, said Hamilton after the race.
“I have no problem with the team or with Charles. I think we can do better. We finally fight for the seventh and eighth place. »»
“I’m not going to apologize for being a fighter. I’m not going to apologize for wanting more. I know everyone in the team wants it too. »»
