‘It’s a good mentality’ – Vasseur explains Ferrari’s approach to the constructors’ battle after closing the gap in Austin

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur has insisted that the squad are focused on “pure performance” going forward rather than on their position in the constructors’ standings, despite the team having closed in on the leaders with their one-two result in Austin.

Having held a steady third in the championship for some time, the Scuderia put themselves firmly in the teams' battle after Charles Leclerc stormed to a dominant victory at the United States Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz adding to their points tally by finishing in second.

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This has brought their total up to 496 points, meaning that they are now only eight points adrift of Red Bull in second and 48 away from McLaren at the top of the table.

Following the race, Leclerc insisted Ferrari were “still targeting the title” with five races remaining, though the Monegasque acknowledged that there remained a “long way to go”.

Speaking during an appearance on the F1 Nation podcast, Team Principal Vasseur was asked how he viewed the constructors’ championship fight entering into the final Grands Prix of the season, with Austin having kickstarted a triple header of races also featuring Mexico and Brazil.

“We’re not thinking about the championship and I want to keep the team in this mood because I think it’s important to be focussed on pure performance, session after session, and not to have somewhere in your mind the championship,” he explained.

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“One week or two weeks ago, everybody was speaking about McLaren, before this it was Mercedes and before this it was Red Bull. We have to take it with a bit of distance, we never spoke about something like this because we know it’s still a long way.

“If something can arrive at the end, it will be more by the performance day per day than by the approach of the overall championship. We know perfectly that next week will be a completely different challenge.

“We will start from scratch and you can have a completely different result in Mexico in one week time.”

In terms of the current mood in the Ferrari camp, Vasseur spoke positively about the attitude of the team as they look to keep on improving race by race.

READ MORE: Sainz explains what prevented him from fighting for victory after Ferrari 1-2 in Austin

“What I want is to have people taking more risk and [have the] power to take risk,” the Frenchman said. “I think we are in this mood and approach. For sure, we have to improve, we have done some things to improve and this is important to keep this mindset.

“Even when you get a good result, it’s not the end of the story and to come back on Monday with a long list of things to improve when you are winning, it’s a good mentality.”