Fred Vasseur Hits Back at ‘Saving Charles Leclerc’ Accusations With Recent Ferrari Strategy in Canada

The 2023 Canadian Grand Prix saw a different Ferrari altogether when they brought out a mind-blowing tactic to finish both of their cars on points. The pit-box strategy not only brought Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz just on points but also secured P4 and P5, respectively.

Despite bringing out a surreal and uncharacteristic Ferrari move, some fans are unhappy. They are of the opinion that Fred Vasseur, the boss of the Prancing Horse, played foul against Sainz to help Leclerc.

Admittedly, the Spanish driver has been faring better this season than the Monegasque. After eight races, he is 14 points ahead of his teammate and is occupying P5 in the driver’s championship against Leclerc’s P7.

Now, with the good form he was in, Sainz felt he was in a suitable position to overtake Leclerc and challenge Lewis Hamilton for the podium. But he was denied in order to maintain the team order and this has made some of Ferrari fans furious.

Fred Vasseur justified his move

As the reports of his bias towards one of his drivers emerged, the French boss justified his place. When asked about it, Vasseur stated in a report published by Dutch media F1 Journal, “No, it wasn’t that I wanted to protect anyone.”

“It was just for strategy. At that stage of the race we had to push, and we wanted to avoid them losing time together,” conveyed the 55-year-old, as he had more focus on the cars that were faster than Max Verstappen.

Sunday in Montréal 🇨🇦#CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/i2OPvB6prW

— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 18, 2023

Notably, the Monegasque had an upper hand since he started the race from P10 over Sainz’s P11 start. The 25-year-old was even in a window where he could have challenged Hamilton for the podium. In the end, the 25-year-old failed to startle the seven-time world champion for the podium as he was in another league battling Fernando Alonso.

Can Ferrari and Charles Leclerc keep the momentum?

Ferrari picked points from the race despite starting low on the grid. This must be the biggest positive for the fans as the Italian team has been constantly struggling this season.

Considering where they started the season, there has been a relative improvement by Ferrari. The team now needs to carry the momentum in the upcoming races to close the gap with Aston Martin and Mercedes.

To do so, Ferrari is planning to bring more upgrades to take themselves contest the P2 In the constructor standing. The recent changes and result has made Charles Leclerc content, and he feels “definitely encouraging” as per F1.