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Vasseur vows Ferrari will ‘fight until the last corner of the last lap’ for the constructors' crown in season finale
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Fred Vasseur says Ferrari will enter the season-closing Abu Dhabi Grand Prix with “huge motivation” in the battle for the constructors’ championship after scoring more points than leaders McLaren during the penultimate race in Qatar.
After initially trailing the Woking outfit in Saturday’s Sprint, Sunday proved to be a better day for the Scuderia at the Lusail International Circuit, with Charles Leclerc taking second place while Carlos Sainz recovered from an earlier puncture to claim sixth.
As Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were third and 10th respectively, this meant that Ferrari took home a bigger points haul than McLaren and closed the gap in the constructors' standings to 21 points heading into the final race in Abu Dhabi.
When asked if he was pleased with this outcome – particularly given that the squad had not expected to be very competitive in Qatar – Vasseur conceded: “Yeah, I would have thanked you for this.
“We are scoring more points than McLaren, we are still alive for the championship, Charles is not far away now from Norris I think in P2 on the drivers’ side. Overall it’s a good result.
‘We did everything perfect’ – Leclerc ‘very very happy’ after P2 in Qatar
“I would prefer to have 20 points ahead than 20 points behind! But let’s see, I think on paper that the next one is probably a bit better for us also. Let’s fight until the last corner of the last lap.”
In terms of whether the pressure is more on their rivals than themselves heading into Abu Dhabi – and whether this could prove beneficial in their own title bid – Vasseur joked: “No, I would prefer to have 20 points in the pocket!
“It’s not a matter of pressure, it’s a matter of [needing] to do a good job and to be quick and then we’ll see. We were able to do [a] one-two some weekends during the season, [we will] to try to do better than this.
“But it’s true that even if [we] do a one-two they can be champions, but first the most important is to be focused on ourselves, not to start to think about what the others are doing and so [on] because then you are losing a little bit the pace of the weekend.
“At least this weekend the approach was very good, because [we are] in the mix of the championship we stayed focused on our car, on our strategy and not thinking too much about what McLaren or Red Bull is doing.”
Ferrari scored more points than McLaren in the Qatar Grand Prix, meaning that the gap in the constructors' now stands at 21 points
And while the Yas Marina Circuit may appear to be better suited to the SF-24, Vasseur is cautious about expecting too much from this.
“It’s true that on paper for different reasons, the track temp or the layout of the track, we are probably in a better shape, but it’s not always true,” he said.
READ MORE: What do McLaren need to do to win the 2024 constructors’ championship in Abu Dhabi?
“It’s mainly driven by tyre management, because the delta between the cars is so small that the tyre management is taking the lead on the racing, and we will have to do a good job. It’s not a given that we’ll be in a good shape next week in Abu Dhabi, but it will be like it will be.
“We’ll have to do the job, we’ll have to put everything together. It’s always a challenge, but we will go in Abu Dhabi with huge motivation.”
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