Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur says the group merely made “the wrong call” as he defined why they gambled on protecting Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc on slick tyres longer than their rivals within the late rain-hit phases of the Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc and Hamilton had been working sixth and eighth respectively when a giant late-race downpour began to hit elements of the Albert Park observe with 13 laps to go.
The main McLarens each quickly ran off observe – with Oscar Piastri then spinning off fully – on the finish of lap 44 which was sufficient for race chief Lando Norris to move straight for the pit lane and alter to intermediate tyres.
Max Verstappen inherited the lead by staying out, however then, because the rain intensified and with the world champion having to tiptoe across the observe, Pink Bull referred to as him in to alter tyres two laps later.
Ferrari, although, stored their drivers out even longer till lap 47, by which period the Security Automotive had been referred to as for crashes for Gabriel Bortoleto (inters) and Liam Lawson (slicks).
By then Hamilton and Leclerc, who himself had spun on lap 44, had been working second and third within the queue behind the intermediate-shod Norris. However regardless of the gained observe place, Ferrari determined the situations meant that they had no alternative however to pit for intermediates too forward of the race restart, a transfer which dropped the drivers right down to ninth and tenth.
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The very best of the motion from the primary race of the 2025 Formulation One season on the Australian Grand Prix.
However why the gamble within the first place?
“It was a strange situation because sector one and two were still dry and sector three was completely wet and it was a kind of a bet I think that Red Bull and us, we bet on the fact that we have to stay on track and to wait for the last part of the race with slicks,” mentioned Vasseur to reporters in Melbourne.
“When Mercedes and McLaren, but McLaren it’s also because they went out that they pitted two laps before.
“We made the unsuitable name as a result of I feel the best choice was to pit the identical lap as Max and we made the unsuitable name at this stage.”
Did Ferrari hold their drivers knowledgeable sufficient about rain?
After rejoining the observe in ninth place, Hamilton mentioned on group radio to new race engineer Riccardo Adami: “I thought you said it wasn’t going to rain much? We just missed a big opportunity there.”
Leclerc, although, was heard being informed by his race engineer concerning the impending arrival of the high-intensity “class three” rain.
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Lewis Hamilton speaks after his opening race as a Ferrari driver, ending tenth on the Australian Grand Prix.
Requested concerning the obvious conflicting messages between the 2 automobiles, Vasseur mentioned: “Sure, however that is very troublesome that we do not have a sensor for the rain, it implies that it is extra a sense, it is what we are able to see on the display, what we are able to have on the radar, it is true from nook to nook.
“I think we were all surprised by the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, and now we did debate to stay on track with the slicks and to survive, but it was the wrong call.”
The F1 circus heads straight to Shanghai this week for the primary Dash weekend of the season on the Chinese language GP, with protection beginning on Friday dwell on Sky Sports activities F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
