Ferrari: Leclerc and Hamilton will be able to continue competing against each other

In China, the two drivers of the Italian team engaged in a battle for the podium

The team leader Ferrari, Fred Vasseurhas stated that he fully trusts his drivers to compete against each other for position, after Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc They were about to collide while fighting for the last place on the podium in the Chinese Grand Prix.

Ultimately, Hamilton won the battle with Leclerc for third place, after both drivers swapped positions on multiple occasions during the race.

Although Lewis Hamilton suspected that the two may have had very light contact at one point, Vasseur stated that the competition was in line with what Ferrari waiting for its pilots.

“I have enormous respect for both; they are professionals and I think that, in this situation, it makes sense to let them compete,” he commented.

“But I know perfectly well that this may also seem completely stupid half an hour later; however, at the end of the day, I think it’s the best way to build a team, and we need to have this kind of emulation within the team to improve.”

“As long as it’s done like it was done today – they even told us a couple of times on the radio that they were having a good time – I don’t want to freeze the positions.”

Lewis Hamilton He took advantage of a fast start to get ahead of the eventual race winner, Kimi Antonelliin the first curve; However, the advantage over the pilot of mercedes It only lasted until the second round.

Subsequently, the Ferrari They managed to keep at bay George Russell until lap 29, but Fred Vasseur pointed out that the performance advantage of the mercedes became evident once the pilots of Ferrari They were a second behind and could no longer use overtaking mode.

“At first we were fighting against mercedes” Vasseur recalled. “As long as we stay within the one-second window—which gives us the extra boost and so on—we’re able to keep up; But as soon as they can open that one-second gap, it becomes much more difficult.

“Perhaps we are demanding a little more from our car than they are during the initial laps; but, after the first ten laps of each team, we return to that disadvantage of four or five tenths per lap that they have.”