‘We did a worse job than the others’ – Vasseur blames Ferrari set-up for ‘tough situation’ in Qatar

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has conceded that they “did a worse job” than their rivals in the Qatar Grand Prix, which contributed to one of their lowest points hauls of the season.

The Scuderia ended the weekend with four points after neither driver scored in the Sprint and Charles Leclerc could only manage P8 in Sunday’s race. They claimed fewer points on just one other occasion this season – their double DNF at Zandvoort.

The Monegasque driver admitted that there is “zero performance” in the car as he struggled with excessive oversteer throughout the weekend, culminating in a massive spin in Q3 that led to him starting the race in 10th place.

On the other side of the garage, things were just as bleak for Lewis Hamilton, with the former champion qualifying P18 for both the Sprint and Grand Prix. He ultimately took the chequered flag nearly 16 seconds behind Yuki Tsunoda, the last of the scorers at a circuit that has few overtaking opportunities.

Vasseur previously confirmed that Ferrari chose to switch focus to their 2026 challenger back in April, halting development on this season’s car, but he insisted that the problem in Qatar was more linked to their set-up than a lack of upgrades.

“I think this weekend we struggled a lot with the set-up and prescription of the tyre pressure,” he said. “We struggled from Lap 1 to the last lap of the race. It was probably a bit better today but only marginally. It’s part of the expedition, part of this weekend that due to the set-up, we were in a tough situation from Lap 1.

“I can’t say that it was all positive but the collaboration and debrief was positive and we were all pushing in the same direction. I understand [the drivers'] frustration in the TV pen, but the most important thing is when they’re back in the garage with the mechanics and engineers trying to find a solution. We tried this weekend but I think we had the issue – it’s not a secret – with the power steering at the beginning of the weekend.

“Then you go into Qualifying and the Sprint, and you can’t change between the two. We made big changes and I think it was okay-ish today but we went too far. The others are all fine-tuning but if you start miles away… I think it was in Q1 or Q2 yesterday you had two-tenths between P5 and P16. If you're out of the window, for sure you’ll lose a tonne of positions and on a track like this where you have zero deg [tyre degradation], it’s not easy to overtake. On top of that, you impose the two-stop.”

Vasseur also admitted that the Safety Car appearance on Lap 7 was Ferrari’s “worst case scenario” discussed before the race – it prompted nine out of 10 teams to head into the pits, forcing them to use the full allocation of 25 laps on their remaining tyres.

With most of the field pitting on the same laps, Hamilton lost out due to the double stack and high volume of traffic in the pit lane, but the strategy wasn’t the only struggle for the Scuderia. They were also significantly off the pace compared to McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedes, but Vasseur appeared confident that it wasn’t a sign of wider issues despite the team finishing P4 in the Teams' Standings – their worst result since 2020.

“We as a team have to stay in our bubble and try to get the best from what we have,” he said. “You have to deal with this kind of situation – Max [Verstappen] was able to do it. He was P8 in Qualifying in Budapest, was P9 in the race and then he started to win races.

“You can come back, and as a team we have to understand what we did wrong this weekend. From my understanding so far, it related to the tyre pressure prescription that we struggled to deal with, but it’s the same for everybody. We did a worse job than the others.

“Charles said he pushed like hell from Lap 1 on Friday morning to the last lap of the race, and I think he was probably pushing more than on some weekends where he won races. I understand the frustration that you’re pushing like hell to finish P8 or P9.”