“ I ’ ve always felt the love here at Silverstone ”
FERRARI
‘ I ’ m only focused on my team . I don ’ t care about the others : the target is to do a good job , to improve the car , to do a good job with the drivers . Then we are fighting with the guys who are with us on the grid .’
Vasseur is not getting too carried away about the improved form : ‘ It ’ s probably part of the game that you always need to push more . And if you consider or think that , “ Now it ’ s okay , we ’ re there ”, then you ’ re going backwards . That is simply the DNA of what we are doing .’
Indeed a double non-finish in Canada last month , on a weekend when the team also struggled for pace , was a reminder of how tough this game is .
‘ It was not the best one ,’ says Vasseur . ‘ Sometimes you have the feeling that everything is going wrong , and everything is going against you , but it won ’ t change our approach . ‘ We are working as a team with the drivers in the good and the bad moments , and we will keep the same approach , and we continue together . But I ’ m not scared after this kind of weekend ; it ’ s racing .’
Charles agrees that a better car has been to the key to this season . ‘ I think as a driver from one season to the other you always improve ,’ he says . ‘ However , when you look at the step we ’ ve made , it is a lot more down to the team and to the car . As drivers , you cannot make such a big step . In fact , that would actually mean that we were driving really badly last year !
‘ No , it ’ s mostly down to the car , and to the hard work we ’ ve done as a team . I think we ’ ve had a really strong approach in the past seven to eight months in order to be very quick in addressing the issues that we had on the car , and that ’ s why we are the team that have improved the most in this period .
‘ So we need to keep focusing on ourselves , not looking at others , and keep pushing to optimise every single detail .’
Carlos is adamant that the team has a much more competitive package this year .
‘ I think we are performing well as drivers for sure ,’ says the Spaniard . ‘ Both Charles and I are having a strong season together . I think since we ’ ve been in F1 , we ’ ve had strong seasons together , and the biggest differentiator has been the car .
“ I ’ ve always felt the love here at Silverstone ”
Carlos Sainz
‘ I think just having a better car on Sunday helps a lot . I mean better for tyre degradation , for overtaking , and simply a better race car on Sunday makes us look better , too . It ’ s not like we both made a massive step forward , it ’ s just how it is in F1 , we are all at a such a high level .
‘ You can tell also with the top six cars now being so close to each other , we ’ re able to make the last tenth of a difference .’
For Sainz , who has to make way for Hamilton in 2025 , his final races with Ferrari are to be savoured .
‘ Obviously , my target in F1 is always to win , and be in the best possible position ,’ he says . ‘ And that ’ s what I like doing and what I enjoy doing , and I still have the rest of the year of that left in the Ferrari .
‘ And I ’ m going to focus on maximising that opportunity because any given weekend , right now , I could be on the podium , or I could win a race . And this gives me joy , and gives me a really good feeling .’ •
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