Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur is “looking forward” to his return to action at the upcoming British Grand Prix.
Vasseur suddenly departed last weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix ahead of the race on Sunday, Ferrari citing personal reasons behind that, but the Frenchman will be back at the helm for this weekend’s British Grand Prix at Silverstone.
Fred Vasseur returns to Ferrari at Silverstone
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
Ferrari head for Silverstone with momentum after a “step forward” was achieved with the new SF-25 floor in Austria, where Charles Leclerc made the front row ahead of a third place finish, while Lewis Hamilton crossed the line fourth.
Next up is the British Grand Prix, an event where the statistics bode well for Ferrari. With 18 wins at this event, no team has more British Grand Prix success than Ferrari, while in Hamilton, chasing a 10th win at his home event, it has the most successful British Grand Prix driver of all time.
It is no surprise, therefore, that Vasseur is raring to go.
“After Austria, we move on to Silverstone, a very different type of circuit and one of the real classics,” said the Ferrari team boss.
“The upgrades we introduced on the SF-25 in Spielberg certainly played some part in our good result last Sunday, and we want to capitalise on that positive momentum going into this next race.
“We’ve seen how important it is to focus on every aspect of our operation in order to deliver a strong performance and so, as usual, we will concentrate on ourselves, aiming to put together another clean weekend.
“This is Lewis’ home race and he’ll be particularly keen to do well, buoyed by the amazing support he can always count on here.
“Personally, I’m looking forward to being back at the race track with the team to enjoy the special atmosphere that’s unique to Silverstone.”
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Ferrari deputy team principal Jerome d’Ambrosio stepped up in Vasseur’s absence in Austria, speaking of that as a natural transition due to how “aligned” he and Vasseur are.
“I don’t think I debuted as a team principal today,” d’Ambrosio told the media, including PlanetF1.com, following the Austrian Grand Prix.
“I did my role as deputy, and as part of it, if something like that happens, and Fred had to leave, then I stepped in.
“I think today went well, because we have a strong team. We have good people in the background. We have a strong engineering team, a strong mechanics team. Everyone did a great job. So for me, it was pretty straightforward from that perspective.
“Now, at the factory, at the races, I speak to Fred 20 times a day. We’re aligned. So it’s not something that… I didn’t feel like I was dropped into something like a fish out of water.
“[I have] been to many races this year. I’m on the pit wall with the team. So in the end, we didn’t deviate too much from what we do.”
Ferrari moved up to second in the Constructors’ Championship after Austria, a point ahead of Mercedes.
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