Fred Vasseur has spoken about the impact of the cancellation of the Bahrain and Saudi Arabian F1 GPs. It comes due to a conflict going on in the region.
Fred Vasseur, Ferrari team principal, downplayed the potential impact of early-season disruptions and upcoming engine regulation changes. He argued that F1’s competitive order is unlikely to change dramatically in the short term.
Impact of the cancellation on F1 teams development
Originally, teams had planned to introduce significant upgrades during the early flyaway races, particularly in Bahrain as they test there every year ahead of a new campaign. Teams will now push some of those developments back, with Miami set to become the first major benchmark for new performance comparisons.
The delay affects all F1 teams, including Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren, so rivals will likely offset any potential advantage by benefiting from the same additional development time.
However, when asked, Fred Vasseur stated that he is unable to predict what changes the cancellation may have on other F1 teams. He instead emphasised that Ferrari’s focus remains internal rather than speculative.
“This nobody can know today. It would have been the situation in Bahrain and Jeddah that we are all developing a lot. I think that you won’t see new parts, Melbourne, Shanghai, Japan, for cost cap reasons and so, but I think everybody was supposed to bring a big upgrade in Bahrain, that means that this will be postponed to Miami.
“I can’t anticipate what would have been the package of Mercedes, Red Bull, McLaren or us, but let’s be focused on ourselves, let’s push until Miami. We have more time also to develop and to bring more performance in Miami. I think it’s true for us, but it will be true for our competitors.”
F1 Compression Ratio Changes ‘Not a Game Changer’
F1 are bringing some changes to the engine compression ratios. This is a change that Audi, Ferrari, Red Bull and Honda have been pushing for. These teams believe Mercedes has found a loophole in the regulations that allows extra performance.
When asked about the changes, Fred Vasseur stressed that a single factor never dictates F1 performance. While the internal combustion engine (ICE) performance remains important, other areas such as energy deployment and chassis development are equally vital.
“I’m not convinced that the new compression ratio rule will be a game changer, a huge game changer. It’s more that you will have the Aduo at one stage, that in the introduction of the Aduo will be an opportunity for us to close the gap.
“But once again, it’s not just about pure ICE performance, I think we have a lot in the energy management, a lot in the chassis, and it would be a mistake from our side to be just focused on one parameter.”
