Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has come out in support of the super bold strategy call that put Charles Leclerc out on soft tyres at the start of the F1 US GP. He insists it was a well-thought-out risk rather than a last-ditch gamble.
The call ended up being a key part of Leclerc’s hard fought third place finish at COTA and handed Ferrari their first podium in 6 races, and breathed some new life into their battle for second in the Constructors’ Championship.
Leclerc was the only driver in the top 15 who decided to take the plunge and start on a set of used soft tyres. This decision raised a few eyebrows in the pit lane understandably enough. But it paid off straight away. He managed to pinch second place from Lando Norris by making a great pass around the outside of Turn 1, putting him right back in with a shout of the second step on the F1 podium.
The Ferrari driver then put in a fantastic defensive display to keep Norris at bay for the bulk of the race, but in the end Norris managed to get the better of him, 5 laps from the flag.
“It’s a bet more than a gamble,” Vasseur insisted in his print media session. “I’m not sure if the others were going for medium-hard or medium-soft, but it’s also the best option for us to be P1 and up on P1. And we tried to do it. But it’s not a gamble.”
Vasseur lauds the team’s execution for turning their fortunes around
Ferrari’s unorthodox strategy stood out from the rest, earning Leclerc crucial track position early on. His defence built a small buffer, allowing Verstappen to pull clear while Leclerc settled into a steady rhythm in clean air, just as Ferrari had planned.
The whole weekend was a turnaround for the Scuderia. Ferrari saw a real low point on Friday when Leclerc suffered a gearbox failure and found himself stuck down in 10th on the sprint F1 qualifying grid.
But the team managed to make some really key set-up changes on the Saturday morning using the Sprint Race for testing. Leclerc went from struggling to qualify just 10th to qualifying in 3rd for the Grand Prix.
Vasseur gave the team a lot of credit for being able to pull it all back from the brink & perform under intense pressure.
“It’s the first time that we are doing a decent weekend, putting everything together without mistakes,” he reflected. “It’s been good from the beginning.”
He also acknowledged Leclerc’s consistent pace throughout the event.
“He had a very strong pace from the beginning of the weekend. Except Q3, perhaps SQ3, but the pace was there from the beginning. The pace was there the last couple of weekends also.”
Vasseur vows that Ferrari “will fight until the last minute”
The result, combined with Lewis Hamilton’s fourth place, elevated Ferrari’s position in the Constructors’ battle. With just three teams separated by a handful of points, Vasseur remains bullish about the Scuderia’s chances heading into the season’s final rounds.
“We [have] three teams in 10 points, something like this,” he noted.
“Max [Verstappen] is scoring big points each weekend, but the most important is the addition of the two cars. Let’s be focused until the end. Let’s try to get the best of what we have.”
The team principal was clear when asked about Ferrari’s intentions for the remainder of 2025.
“I think it’s a good feeling to be back on the podium, to be back with the two cars,” Vasseur shared. “We will fight until the last minute.”
Fine margins
The team has endured a turbulent second half of the season, with performance fluctuations leaving them vulnerable in the standings. Vasseur acknowledged these inconsistencies but suggested Ferrari’s peaks and troughs are more pronounced than their rivals because they are closer to the midfield.
“It’s really up and down. Probably a bit more for us and probably a bit less visible for McLaren and Red Bull now. Because they have a kind of advantage in terms of pure performance.
“When they are not doing well, they are still P2, P3. When we are not doing well, we are P10. But it’s true that it was a very good recovery from the team after Friday evening.”
With five races still ahead of them, Ferrari remain determined to get their hands on that runners-up spot in the Constructors’ championship by the end of the season. F1 now heads to Mexico, the place of Ferrari’s last win. It will be a real challenge to finally put an end to that frustrating run of no wins in 2025. The only top 3 team yet to score a win this year, Ferrari are going to have to give it everything they’ve got if this season is to end with some silverware on the table.
