Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has pledged that the Scuderia will arrive at the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix in Madrid brimming with "all the energy" needed to recover from what he described as a "failure" at Monza. The Italian squad entered their home race with high hopes after both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc posted fast lap times in Friday's practice sessions, yet the weekend quickly unraveled.
Neither driver secured a front‑row start in qualifying, and the race on Sunday turned into a series of setbacks that left the team and its passionate fan base, the Tifosi, deeply disappointed. Hamilton, who began the race in fourth place, was forced to drop to tenth after a dramatic side‑by‑side battle with Leclerc at the first chicane. The contact sent Hamilton off the racing line and into the gravel at Turn 2, a moment he later described as "frustrating" and far from the performance he expected.
Meanwhile, Leclerc suffered a far more serious incident on the third lap. A high‑speed crash completely destroyed his car and left the Monegasque driver with temporary eye irritation, forcing him to retire early. Despite a brief surge to third place mid‑race, Hamilton could not sustain the pace required to challenge the leaders.
He ultimately crossed the finish line in sixth position, trailing both Mercedes drivers, Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, and the two McLaren entries. The result was a stark contrast to the optimism that had surrounded the team at the start of the weekend.
Vasseur addressed the media after the race, emphasizing the need to reset and refocus. "We will come to Madrid with all the energy that we need to do a good result," he said. He acknowledged the unique pressure of racing at Monza, especially with the Tifosi filling the grandstands. "Even if I spend the week saying it was a normal race, it’s not, as you can imagine.
With all the Tifosi, we were expecting to give them something else as a big thank you for the support and the enthusiasm they have," Vasseur added. "We all feel we have let them down, but be assured we will return much stronger." The technical side of Ferrari's struggles was also highlighted.
The team introduced its second and final engine upgrade of the season at Monza, yet the cars remained slower on the straights than their Mercedes‑powered rivals. Straight‑line speed has been Ferrari's Achilles' heel all year, a deficiency that Vasseur believes will be less pronounced on the twisty layout of the new Madring circuit in Madrid.
He admitted that the team did not expect to fully close the power‑unit gap to Mercedes in a single weekend. "When you lack pure power, you start to play with deployment to try to compensate on the straights," he explained. "But if you deploy more somewhere, you inevitably deploy less elsewhere, and that can send you down the wrong spiral when you’re fighting for position." Even rival teams such as McLaren have been experimenting with deployment strategies, but Vasseur was clear that the core issue for Ferrari remains a shortfall in outright horsepower. After the first Additional Development and Upgrade Opportunities (ADUO) review earlier in the year, the FIA determined that Ferrari was more than four per cent off the benchmark set by Red Bull's power unit.
This assessment granted Ferrari permission to introduce two engine upgrades during the current season and an additional one for the 2027 campaign, when the Scuderia will debut a brand‑new power unit. Vasseur explained the long‑term nature of engine development. "The chassis can be upgraded from one day to the next and you can see an immediate impact on pace," he said. "Engine development, however, is a mega‑long process.
Lead times for parts are lengthy, and the cost cap makes it difficult to produce a new engine for every race. If you want to start development, you have to manufacture a new batch of engines, which is not something we can do overnight." He emphasized that Ferrari does not expect to recover instantly with ADUO 1 or ADUO 2. "We are taking small steps. Even a hundredth of a second improvement on the engine can translate into a position gain on the grid," Vasseur noted.
"A couple of extra horsepower is a good step, and next year we will have a completely new engine. Our target is to catch up as quickly as possible." Looking ahead, the Spanish Grand Prix weekend is packed with support races and events. The schedule includes Formula 3 and Formula 2 practice sessions, qualifying, and sprint races, as well as the main F1 practice and qualifying sessions. The race will be broadcast live on Sky Sports F1, with streaming available via NOW without a long‑term contract.
Fans can also follow the team’s press conferences, driver interviews, and post‑race analysis throughout the weekend. In summary, Ferrari’s weekend at Monza was a sobering reminder of the challenges the team still faces, particularly in terms of engine power and race‑day execution. However, Vasseur’s resolve to channel the disappointment into motivation for Madrid, combined with the upcoming engine upgrades and a circuit that favours handling over raw speed, offers a hopeful outlook.
The Scuderia aims to translate the lessons learned into a stronger performance at the Madring, hoping to deliver the results the Tifosi deserve and to re‑establish themselves as genuine contenders in the championship battle.