Team principal Fred Vasseur has shared his opinion on the controversial incident between Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon that resulted in the Ferrari driver giving up his position to avoid receiving a potential penalty at the F1 Imola GP.
Following the Safety Car restart, Leclerc found himself on worn-out hard tyres and defending his fourth place from Albon, who had pitted for fresh rubber. On lap 60, the Thai-British driver attempted to go around the outside of the Ferrari at the first left-hander. As the Monégasque refused to give him sufficient room, Albon went off into the gravel and lost another position to Lewis Hamilton.
Whilst the seven-time world champion surged ahead of Leclerc on fresh tyres, Ferrari opted to relinquish the position to Albon once the stewards noted the Monégasque’s move for investigation. He ultimately took the chequered flag in sixth place.
Vasseur agrees there’s too much policing in racing now
The 2025 F1 Sporting Regulations state that to be entitled to room when overtaking on the outside, the overtaking car must get its mirror alongside at least the front axle of the other car at the apex.
Asked if the way racing is regulated by the FIA now is a bit too complicated, the Ferrari team boss reflected on the guidelines in a print media session after the race and concurred with the observation.
Fred Vasseur mirrored Leclerc’s viewpoint on his contentious move at the F1 Imola GP and maintained that it’s unfeasible to expect drivers to gauge these minuscule details from inside the cockpit.
“Do you want to speak about [Alex] Albon and Charles [Leclerc]? I don’t want to go to the stewards next week.
“We are in between the let them race and then to have a guideline that if you have the mirror at the level of the rear axle, at least when you are in the car, to see if the mirror is at the level of the sidepod or whatever, it’s a bit too much.”
Vasseur defends pit wall’s call to concede position
Admitting that Leclerc’s manoeuvre against Albon in the closing stages of the F1 Imola GP looked borderline, Fred Vasseur defended the pit wall’s decision and stated that a five-second penalty would’ve prompted the eight-time race winner to finish outside the top ten.
Furthermore, Vasseur explained that Ferrari anticipated the verdict to go against Leclerc since the stewards didn’t immediately dismiss the investigation. Nonetheless, emphasising how difficult overtaking generally is on a track like Imola, the Frenchman remarked that it’s understandable why the drivers went all in to make their overtakes stick at the Tamburello chicane.
“In this case, we were under investigation. We were clearly at risk. With five seconds, Charles would’ve been tenth, eleventh at this stage.
“We had the feeling that they were going more in the direction of the penalty. That’s why we asked him [Leclerc] to swap.
“I was a bit surprised with the fact that we had more overtaking than expected. When it’s difficult and you have only one corner to overtake, it’s a bit all in on this one.”
