“Is the victory in Monte Carlo a point of no return?”, the answer

“If the victory in Monte Carlo Is it a point of no return? I think it will be a good step forward. Having said that, we don’t have to change our approach because we achieved good results in Melbourne and Monaco. There is a plan, we are developing the car and we know what we need to improve step by step, and this approach must be maintained. Having obtained a good result in Monaco, or less good in other weekends, does not change the plans, stability is very important.” Frédéric Vasseur commented thus in the meeting with the Italian press held on Thursday afternoon, in which Libero was also present, speaking about the present and the future: “We know what we want to achieve, just as we know the path we must complete to achieve this objective – he adds – Allo at the same time I believe that the victory in Monaco can help Charles to increase his self-confidence, because he had been waiting for success in his home race for several years. Plus he spent a long time without winning, and returning to success always helps self-esteem.”

The championship “is very exciting with three teams fighting each other, which means having five or six single-seaters capable of fighting for pole positions as well as stage wins – he adds – We also know that you can go from first to sixth position very quickly (like Verstappen between Imola and Monte Carlo, ed.), so it is important to stay focused on the next objective, and at the moment it is the Canadian Grand Prix. We have to keep the same approach and continuously improve, department by department, in every single area, including the drivers, including the pit wall, including everything, because even when you complete a good job, you still have to do a better job the following week. If you start to convince yourself that what you’re doing is enough, that’s the beginning of the end.”

The change in this year’s on-track approach “is due to last season, at the end of 2023 it was clear that the performance difference between us and Red Bull was much smaller in qualifying than in the race pace – says Vasseur – Undoubtedly Pole position is very important on tracks like Budapest, Monaco and Singapore compared to other circuits, but the performance deficit we had in the race last year cost us a lot of points. Today we are much more focused on preparing for the race, this is an aspect that can also be seen from the weekend programme, which includes a long run already in the first free practice session. We know that this approach is a bit to the detriment of preparation for qualifying, but it is not a change of mentality, but rather an effect linked to what emerged last year.”

As for Adrian Newey “I don’t want to make any comments because every answer could be interpreted – says Vasseur – The most important thing is the stability of the team, as I said before, I think we are doing a good job in the right direction. The most important thing for me is the stability of the group, much more so than its individual members and I would add that I am really satisfied with the current situation.” Leclerc’s new race engineer from Imola, Bryan Bozzi, “was also very direct with Charles during the Monaco race, a race that was not easy to manage because all the drivers were asking to be able to push and we were trying to slow them down for strategic reasons — adds the French team principal — The communication between the pit wall and Charles was very clear and direct, fast and without errors. The collaboration with Charles is technically good, but the two have known each other for years. I would say that so far the work has been perfect.”