Ferrari took points from McLaren F1 in Qatar, which satisfied its director, Frédéric Vasseur. The Scuderia's objective will be to win the constructors' crown in Abu Dhabi, even if the game will not be easy.
“The most important thing is that we scored more points than McLaren” reassured Vasseur. “We are now 21 points behind, with one race to go, which means anything is possible. We have also increased our lead over Red Bull, which means that in Abu Dhabi we can focus more on the team ahead of us.”
“The Qatar race was a bit chaotic, but overall it was good for us: we executed it well, the pace was there and I'm very happy with the work we did. Our plan was that the drivers don't attack too hard in the first laps in order to attack more later and we were confident of having the pace on the hard to push until the end.”
“We have some regrets, like Carlos' puncture which happened in the worst place, because he had to do a full lap before stopping and that cost us one or two positions” continued the Frenchman, who explains why he still believes in the world title.
“Now we go to Abu Dhabi, which on paper should be a better circuit for us and with Max and Mercedes on the pace, you never know what can happen in the battle for the championship. We will give everything until 'to the final checkered flag.'
After Abu Dhabi, Ferrari will say goodbye to Carlos Sainz to welcome Lewis Hamilton in January. Is Vasseur worried about the state of mind and performance of his future driver this weekend in Qatar?
“Not at all. Look at the 50 laps he did in Las Vegas. Starting 10th, finishing on Russell's gearbox who won the race, I'm not worried at all.”
