Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur says the Italian outfit was "too conservative" with its tyre management at Silverstone, as it feared the emergence of degradation issues that never materialized.
In qualifying, the Scuderia upheld the solid performance it displayed the week before in Austria, although Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were outpaced in Saturday's shootout by both McLarens , with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri slotting in between poleman Max Verstappen and Leclerc who qualified fourth, one spot ahead of Sainz.
Leclerc and Sainz both started their race on the medium tyre, but the Monegasques was called after just 18 laps to switch to the hards, while Sainz opted for a mid-race change to the latter compound.
Both drivers subsequently lost ground, the pair concluding its day a disappointing P9 and P10 in the running order.
In hindsight, Vasseur admitted that the team should have ordered its drivers to push harder as degradation – chronic issue for the SF-23 this season – was not an issue.
The Frenchman explained why Ferrari took a cautious approach to its race.
"Starting from P4, P5 we had the feeling after the quali that we could have done a much better job than this," commented Vasseur.
"We can't be happy finishing P9, P10. But now we need to have a deep look on the weekend, not just on the race.
"I think we didn't do the long stint on Friday, only the soft compound, and Charles was struck in the garage. And we were a bit scared with the deg.
"Probably somewhere in our mind we had the first races of the season, where today [Sunday] we were far too conservative on the tyre management, and we didn't push enough.
"Then we were a bit unlucky with the safety car. This is not in our hands, and we don't have to think about this, we have to think about what we can manage. And honestly, I think that we could have pushed much more."
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Vasseur acknowledged that pitting Leclerc early was proved sub-optimal. But too much prudence was the main factor that impacted the Scuderia's afternoon.
"We were fighting with Russell, and we were thinking that he will pit, and we will have to fight with Russell [again].
"For sure now after the race, it's quite easy to say that we will have to extend and to push more on the tyres.
“But I think where we lost the most is not at the stage of the race, it's that when we put the hard with Charles, I think we did something like 10 or 12 laps before the safety car and he had zero deg and he could have pushed much more.
“It was a misunderstanding on the deg. This is coming from Friday, and it's not coming from the race today [Sunday]."
Although unhappy with his team's result, Vasseur preferred to focus on the most positive take-away from the race, namely its car's minimal degradation which has been achieved thanks to Ferrari's most recent upgrades.
"It's difficult to say when you're finishing nine and 10 that we did a good job," he said.
"But overall, I think that it's true that we had much less deg, that was our main issue at the beginning of the season. And it was not the case today.
"Perhaps we had a lack of pace compared to the Mercedes, but not the deg. And the pace, perhaps the car is a bit unstable with the wind. We knew before that Silverstone could be a difficult one for us.
"The wind was extreme and today, it was the same as Miami, but the performance was much better than Miami. Because I think we are focused on this into the development.
"For sure the car was unstable, I don't know if it was more unstable than the others. Looks like we struggled a lot, perhaps a bit more than some others when we are into the train. But it's still a characteristic of the car."
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