Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur reflects on mistakes made at Australian Grand Prix: “We made the wrong call”

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has accepted that it was a mistake to delay change of slick tyres for Ferrari drivers Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc while their competitors opted for the change much before. There were quite a few disappointments during the season’s first race at the Australian Grand Prix as it poured for quite some time. While Hamilton ended 10th, Leclerc did a bit better at the 8th position.
Fred Vasseur explains what went wrong at Australian Grand PrixFred Vasseur said they took a chance to continue with slick tyres but should have done what McLaren’s Max Verstappen did. According to Sky Sports, he said, "It was a strange situation because sector one and two were still dry and sector three was completely wet and it was a kind of a bet I think that Red Bull and us, we bet on the fact that we have to stay on track and to wait for the last part of the race with slicks.”
Comparing Ferrari’s strategy to Mercedes and McLaren, he said, "We made the wrong call because I think the best option was to pit the same lap as Max and we made the wrong call at this stage," he added.
Vasseur also answered media queries on why Hamilton didn’t have much clue about the rain prediction but Leclerc was heard being told by his engineer about the rain. He said, "Yes, but this is very difficult that we don't have a sensor for the rain, it means that it's more a feeling, it's what we can see on the screen, what we can have on the radar, it's true from corner to corner. I think we were all surprised by the quantity of rain at this stage of the race, McLaren first, and now we did debate to stay on track with the slicks and to survive, but it was the wrong call."

After the race, Leclerc shared a few pictures on Instagram and wrote, “Eventful race. It’s not the start of the season we were hoping for, but it’s only one race. Plenty to analyse and learn from to do better next weekend in Shanghai.”
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On the other hand, Hamilton shared a message on Instagram after his debut race, confirming that he has a lot to offer in the upcoming season despite a disappointing start. He wrote alongside a few pictures, “A real rollercoaster. Definitely not what we had hoped for, but I’m grateful to get my first race done. Now we build onwards and upwards. We have a lot of work to do, and we’ll keep pushing to make improvements and bring better results. There’s a lot of potential in the car, now we do the work to unlock it. Grazie, on to the next.”