Red faces at Ferrari: Vasseur admits to botched strategy call

Ferrari endured in Melbourne a challenging start to its 2025 F1 campaign, with team principal Fred Vasseur candidly admitting that a critical error in strategy during the race’s rain-disrupted closing stages undermined the team’s performance.

The Italian outfit’s decision to keep Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton on slick tyres as a late shower intensified cost them dearly, leaving the Scuderia languishing in seventh place in the Constructors’ standings after the season opener.

The race, already a rollercoaster of mixed weather conditions, took a decisive turn 42 laps in when rain returned to the Albert Park circuit. At that point, Leclerc was holding fifth place, with Hamilton in eighth.

However, as the downpour worsened, the team’s gamble to stay out on slicks unraveled. Leclerc was overtaken by Racing Bulls’ Yuki Tsunoda on lap 43 and then spun a lap later, losing seven seconds to Hamilton.

Meanwhile, most of the field – including Red Bull’s Max Verstappen – pitted for intermediate tyres on lap 46, a move that proved timely as the rain showed no signs of abating.

Ferrari, however, persisted with Leclerc, Hamilton, and Tsunoda staying out an extra lap, a decision that saw them slide down the order after their eventual pit stops.

Leclerc managed to salvage eighth place, overtaking Hamilton, who slipped to 10th after losing a position to McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. The solitary point Hamilton earned was a meager consolation for a team with higher aspirations.

Speaking to Canal+ post-race, Vasseur acknowledged the harsh reality of Ferrari’s performance as he reflected on the weekend as a whole.

“The result is negative, that’s not what we came for,” he admitted, quoted by Motorsport.com.

“First, in qualifying, we didn’t put everything together, and I think our pace was much better than the result we got.”

Indeed, Leclerc and Hamilton had qualified seventh and eighth, trailing polesitter and race winner Lando Norris by 0.659s and 0.877s respectively – gaps that suggested Ferrari had more potential than their grid slots indicated.

A Costly Call in the Rain

Ferrari clearly botched its strategy call when it opted to mirror Verstappen’s initial strategy of staying out on slicks, hoping the shower would be short-lived.

“Then, today, the strategy was not easy – we made the wrong call at the end,” Vasseur conceded. “Let’s face it, we tried to stay out like Max, to survive with slicks when it started to rain, because we thought – mistakenly – that the shower wasn’t going to last that long. Had this worked out, it would have been lovely, but it didn’t! That’s it, we lost.”

Vasseur was quick to emphasize a collective approach to the mistake rather than pointing fingers.

“We must not try and blame someone but attempt to understand what went wrong in our decision-making system,” he said.

“The gamble was good, but we should have pitted one lap earlier – like Max.”

That one-lap delay proved decisive, as Verstappen’s timely stop allowed him to maintain a stronger position, while Ferrari’s drivers floundered in the worsening conditions.

Looking Ahead After a Disappointing Start

With just five points to their name, Ferrari finds itself well behind its direct rivals, McLaren, Red Bull and Mercedesin the constructors’ standings – a sobering outcome for a team with championship ambitions.

Yet Vasseur remained forward-looking, refusing to dwell on the setback.

“There are 23 races left and we have to look forward,” he insisted.

“The pace we showed on Friday – be it on a qualifying lap or long runs – was good, and that’s what we need to build our season on, not on a strategy call that wasn’t the right one at the end of the race.”

For Ferrari, the Australian Grand Prix was a lesson in the fine margins of F1 strategy.

Vasseur’s frank assessment and focus on improvement signal a determination to rebound, but the Melbourne misstep serves as an early reminder of the challenges ahead in a fiercely competitive season.

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