Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur believes that McLaren's aggressive strategy at the Italian Grand Prix may have inadvertently boosted Charles Leclerc's chances of taking a banner for the team.
Leclerc's sensational victory at Monza was not only a significant achievement for Ferrari but also a result of a surprising turn of events influenced by their competitors.
At the start of the race, Leclerc managed to capitalize on the battle between the two McLarens on the first lap, overtaking Lando Norris for second place.
In a bid to help the Briton’s cause, McLaren pitted Norris on lap 15 and undercut Leclerc for second place a lap later when the Monegasque opted to swap his mediums tyre for a set of hards.
But Leclerc was anything but happy with the strategy, chastising his team on the radio, saying: "What was that? Why did we pit if we are undercut?"
Vasseur explained that Ferrari was already been mulling a one-stop strategy at that point of the race.
“I’m trying on the pit wall to avoid thinking about if it’s possible or not. We are managing the gap, we are giving target lap times to the drivers and not thinking too much if it’s possible or not,” he recounted.
For Ferrari, the undercut proved to be an opportunity rather than a setback.
“It’s true that the race was quite strange because we started aiming for one stop and then McLaren pushed a bit more than expected in the first stint," Vasseur said.
"And then Norris struggled before us and he had to pit, we wanted to cover him and to stay in the same race as them because we had the feeling at this stage that we had an advantage on the tyres.”
©McLaren
As the race progressed, Ferrari realized that their advantage on the hard tyres was substantial, allowing them to stick to their one-stop strategy and go to the end.
“The advantage was so good that after 10 laps with the hard it was clear for us that we could go until the end,” Vasseur noted. “Then you never know, because you can have a cliff at one stage.
“But it was not the case and it was pretty well managed by the two guys, and at the end of the day they were able to achieve the target lap time each lap and very consistently.
Throughout the race, Ferrari’s strategists remained focused on managing the gap and ensuring reliability, avoiding the distraction of thinking too much about a potential podium finish.
“We are doing the calculation on what we could give up to Piastri each lap and to fix some target to Charles, and only in the last lap I said, ‘OK now we are safe’, because for the last lap we had something like four seconds and then you start to think about reliability," Vasseur explained.
"But we try to stay focused – it’s not always easy but it’s the most important thing to do and not to think too much about the podium, because that is a mistake.”
Leclerc’s victory was not just a strategic and mathematical win, it was a triumph that carried immense emotional weight for Ferrari. Vasseur acknowledged the significance of winning at Monza.
“For sure, it’s a good one,” he said. “For Ferrari and for Charles to win in Monaco, to win in Monza, I think probably with Imola they’re the two or three that you want to take in the season.
“But it’s more emotional than mathematical at the end of the day, you are scoring more points in Monza than in Baku – mathematically speaking it’s a win.
“Emotionally speaking, for sure it’s very important because we had huge support from the beginning of the week, from the tifosi.
“Starting on Monday at the factory in Maranello, we had hundreds of people in front of the entrance, and the best way to pay them back was to win.”
In the end, Ferrari's strategic decisions and the events of the race aligned perfectly to deliver a much-needed banner victory.
“It’s never easy, it’s not always under control, but it was the best way for the team to pay back everyone for their support,” Vasseur concluded.
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