Vasseur reacts – Fred Vasseur insisted Ferrari will focus on the fight rather than the loss of pole after Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified second and third in Austria. George Russell took pole after lifting for a yellow flag, leaving Ferrari sandwiched between Merc
The Red Bull Ring didn’t just deliver drama in qualifying—it handed Ferrari a dilemma, seconds at a time.
Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton’s final efforts put the Scuderia in a strong position heading into the closing moments. sitting second and third with just a few challengers left to come. Then Max Verstappen crashed out at the penultimate corner as he tried to push for more. bringing out a yellow flag for drivers behind to manage.
George Russell was one of those drivers. He had to lift, yet still posted a time fast enough to usurp both Ferrari drivers—turning what looked like a shared front-row moment into a pole for Mercedes.
The result left Leclerc and Hamilton to settle for P2 and P3 on the grid. They were sandwiched between the two Mercedes of Russell and Kimi Antonelli, while the current championship leader qualified in fourth.
Asked on F1 TV after the eventful Saturday session whether he was disappointed with how it ended after the yellow-flag complication, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur didn’t linger on the frustration.
“No,” Vasseur said. “First I’m taking the positive that we are second and third, that we are in the fight with Mercedes in the Quali and able probably to have good pace for tomorrow.
“This is most important. We still have 15 races to go and the most important [thing] is the performance.
“On the incident [with the yellows] you can discuss at length whether it was reasonable to not have double yellow in these circumstances when you deploy the Medical Car. Then we don’t have the data of the mini sector. we can’t check if you reduce the speed by five per cent or not. but we have to trust Race Control and I will do it.”.
Ferrari’s mood wasn’t only about the numbers on the grid—it was also about Leclerc’s form showing signs of returning. Vasseur pointed to how Leclerc bounced back after two disappointing weekends: he crashed out in Monaco and in Barcelona qualifying. mechanical issues forced him to retire from the respective Grands Prix.
Vasseur insisted there was never a real question over the pace.
“It was more you journalists who were a bit worried,” Vasseur explained. “I was not, honestly.
“On his last lap in Monaco he was fighting for pole, he was two tenths in advance compared to Max. When he crashed in Barcelona he was also on a very good lap – the pace was always there.
“Now he was a bit under pressure when you start to do mistakes, and it’s good for him to come back, to do a good lap and to put everything together but the pace was always there.”
With Hamilton sealing a spectacular first win for Ferrari last time out in Barcelona—helped by Scuderia tyre management and a three-stop strategy—Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix carries a different kind of test. Vasseur believes Mercedes may hold the advantage over one lap. but he also pushed back against turning last race’s success into an automatic promise for this one.
“Even when they slow down they are faster than us!” Vasseur joked.
“But each day it’s another story – it’s not because we had good tyre management two weeks ago that it will work tomorrow.
“We have to put ourselves in clean air, to pay attention to our car and our tyres and not to be focused on the fight or something else. It’s what we did [in the] last race and let’s try to do the same tomorrow.”
By the time the grid was set. the story of qualifying was clear: Ferrari’s pace put it in the fight. but the timing of a yellow flag—and Russell’s ability to still land the lap—meant pole belonged elsewhere. For Vasseur. the job now is to keep that momentum translating into performance over the full distance at Austria. with 15 races still left to shape the season.
Fred Vasseur Charles Leclerc Lewis Hamilton George Russell Kimi Antonelli Max Verstappen Austria Grand Prix qualifying pole Ferrari Mercedes