The start of the 2023 FIA Formula 1 World Championship season was not one that Scuderia Ferrari and newly appointed Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur would have been hoping for, with the Championship hopefuls finishing with just twelve points and having only one car finishing the race.
Carlos Sainz Jr. struggled for pace throughout the weekend and failed to make an impression on the two Oracle Red Bull Racing drivers out front and failed to defend from Fernando Alonso, with the veteran Spaniard ending up finishing on the podium for the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team.
Meanwhile, for Charles Leclerc it was yet another disappointing race weekend and similarly to 2022, he failed to finish the race, that he was almost guaranteed a podium in, due to a reliability issue that saw him lose power in the second half of the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Vasseur, who joined Ferrari after leaving Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake at the end of 2022 to replace Mattia Binotto, admitted it was not the best of starts for the Maranello-based team in Bahrain, and it will be important to understand what caused Leclerc’s failure so they can prevent it from happening again.
“Of course we are disappointed, how could we not be. We knew we’d have to deal with tyre degradation, but we had not expected reliability problems.
“It’s a shame for Charles, because in the first stint his pace was good and even with the heavy degradation on the Hard tyre, he could have brought home a third place, that would have been a good way to start the season. Carlos drove a solid race, running at a consistent pace and he gave it his all to finish fourth.
“After this first race, we have a clear picture of the situation and we know what areas we must work on. We have to improve a lot in terms of tyre management and clearly, we have to ensure we have no more reliability problems like the one that affected us today.”
