Vasseur defends Ferrari F1 strategy calls in 2023

Ferrari Team Principal Frederic Vasseur has defended his squad'sstrategy calls throughout the 2023 Formula 1 season. The Italiansquad has been criticised for several in-race decisions over thelast handful of years. Changes were made prior to the start of theseason that saw Ravin Jain appointed to the Strategy Director rolewith his predecessor Inaki Rueda moved to a factory-based position.In the latter stages of the campaign, Ferrari was criticised forgiving Charles Leclerc a one-stop strategy at the United StatesGrand Prix after he dropped to sixth at the chequered flag afterstarting on pole position. Vasseur highlighted that Ferrari isconstantly vying to improve its pit wall operation as he pointed tothe Austin race as an example of a mistake slipping through. “Wealways have to improve and always try to do a better job,” he toldmedia including RacingNews365. “I think honestly, this season, thestrategy went very well. You can discuss Austin, for example, whenCharles did one stop. “But it was more [about] the choice on thetyres than something else.” Ferrari fell short of its pre-seasonexpectations with rivals Red Bull dominating the campaign. Despitebeing unable to consistently challenge at the front of the grid,Vasseur stated that Ferrari was able to deliver on strategy whenits car was fast at certain weekends. “Strategy is when you'remaking a mistake because sometimes a safety car happens two lapsafter [a pit stop] and you don't have the crystal ball. “But Ithink I'm quite pleased with the operation, I'm quite pleased withthe support from the factory and what we are doing on the pit wall.“It was quite smooth, the atmosphere is always calm on the pitwall, and it's like this, that you are taking a good decision.“Quite often when, from an external point of view, you have thefeeling that the decision is not a good one or something like this,it’s mainly driven by the pace. “When we had a very good paceduring the season, the strategy was always good. “It's much easierto have a good strategy when you have the pace, when you are slow,you are slow. You can do one, two or three pit stops but if you areslow, you will stay slow. Overall it was a pretty well managed.”