Ferrari faces new Sepang challenge as Fred Vasseur reveals weekend focus

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has given an insight into what fans of the Maranello outfit should expect from this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia.

The Frenchman explained that the team must focus its set-up entirely on race pace to combat severe tyre degradation.

Following a run of low-degradation street circuits and high-speed tracks, Formula 1’s return to the Sepang International Circuit presents a different challenge for the paddock.

In last weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Ferrari was forced to compromise its aerodynamic set-up by adding downforce to counter grip issues.

“We knew before going to Baku that it wouldn’t be the easiest weekends of the season, that with the straightline that we have, for sure the deficit was huge,” Vasseur explained during the team press conference in Sepang.

“We tried to do our best so that even if it was not an easy one, we were still on the first row. It’s not also a bad result in itself, the quali at least.”

Fred Vasseur, Ferrari

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Sutton Images via Getty Images

But Vasseur expects Sepang to completely upend the recent competitive order. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen went fastest in the first practice session, followed by Mercedes’ George Russell and Verstappen’s team-mate Isack Hadjar. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were fourth and sixth.

“And this weekend, I think it’s much more difficult to have a good understanding of what could be the weekend, that will be mega dominated by degradation,” Vasseur continued.

“We saw this morning that it’s a completely different story compared to the last four or five weeks, when you had Monza, Madrid, Baku. We had almost zero deg. This weekend will be another story. It means that we have to change a little bit the focus and to be much more focused on the race pace.”

Ferrari currently sits second in the constructors’ championship, 160 points behind leader Mercedes.

Photos from F1 Bahrain GP in Malaysia- Friday