{"id":37087,"date":"2025-08-28T04:01:57","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=37087"},"modified":"2025-08-28T04:01:57","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T08:01:57","slug":"vasseur-ferrari-must-keep-positive-momentum-in-zandvoort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/08\/28\/vasseur-ferrari-must-keep-positive-momentum-in-zandvoort\/","title":{"rendered":"Vasseur: Ferrari must keep “positive momentum” in Zandvoort"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ferrari ended the first half of the season with a frustrating afternoon in Hungary, as Charles Leclerc<\/a> fell first place in the opening stages to fourth across the line.<\/p>\n

Despite claiming Pole Position, Leclerc could not match the McLaren’s across a race distance.<\/p>\n

Even Russell finished ahead of the Monegasque, who was forced to lift and coast for much of the race.<\/p>\n

Ferrari were on the limit with their plank wear at the Hungaroring, opting for a risky set-up that (whilst effective in qualifying) was not sustainable on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Although the SF-25’s decline was disappointing, Fred Vasseur is optimistic about the team’s pace.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Vasseur maintains positive outlook<\/h2>\n

It was roughly one year ago that Ferrari claimed victory at the Italian GP, courtesy of their Monza upgrades<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Following a difficult patch during the European leg of the season, Vasseur’s team responded strongly in 2024.<\/p>\n

Twelve months later, the chance of a mid-season resurgence are relatively slim.<\/p>\n

Ferrari have already switched their focus to the 2026 regulations, dedicating all of their resources to that project.<\/p>\n

For an engine manufacturer like Ferrari, the difficulty of producing a new engine only elevates the challenge.<\/p>\n

This means no improvements will arrive to the SF-25<\/a>, presenting a clear limiting factor.<\/p>\n

Still, the Scuderia still want to end this year on a positive note.<\/p>\n

With McLaren well beyond reach, their objective is to claim second in the Championship.<\/p>\n

As Red Bull struggle and Mercedes battle their own inconsistencies, finishing runner-up is a realistic goal.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of this weekend’s Dutch GP, team principal Fred Vasseur<\/a> was upbeat in his analysis:<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re back on track after the summer break, which gave the team and the drivers a chance to recharge – ready to face a very busy final part of the season.<\/em><\/p>\n

“In the Netherlands, we want to maintain the positive momentum built up over the past few races, where we made progress in terms of competitiveness.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Charles and Lewis are ready, and the team is fully focused, determined to put them in the best possible position to get some good results.<\/em><\/p>\n

“This weekend, that means starting right from qualifying.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Which is particularly crucial at Zandvoort, given how difficult overtaking can be at this track.”<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Ferrari focused on damage limitation<\/h4>\n

Given that Ferrari haven’t won an F1 Championship in almost two decades, finishing 2nd in this year’s constructors standings would equal their best results in recent years.<\/p>\n

Of course, a team with the resources at Ferrari’s disposal do not aim for second place.<\/p>\n

At the end of last year’s campaign, the Maranello team were legitimate threats to McLaren.<\/p>\n

Sainz and Leclerc won two races each in 2024, narrowly missing out on the constructors title in the final race.<\/p>\n

During pre-season, the expectation was that Ferrari would fight for the Championship with McLaren.<\/p>\n

The Scuderia were generally seen as more likely than Red Bull to upset the supremacy of Andrea Stella’s team<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It didn’t take long for these hopes to fade, even if Vasseur was adamant about the SF-25’s potential for some time.<\/p>\n

With Piastri and Norris<\/a> in a clear title fight, the rest of the field must accept they are not protagonists.<\/p>\n

In the case of Ferrari, however, there might be opportunities to pick up the pieces of McLaren drop the ball before the end of the season.<\/p>\n

To some extent, winning a race of securing regular podiums would help ease some of Ferrari’s frustrations in 2025.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, the Italian squad understand the pressure is on to deliver at the highest level in 2026.<\/p>\n

Main photo: Scuderia Ferrari media gallery<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ferrari ended the first half of the season with a frustrating afternoon in Hungary, as Charles Leclerc fell first place in the opening stages to fourth across the line. Despite claiming Pole Position, Leclerc could not match the McLaren’s across a race distance. Even Russell finished ahead of the Monegasque, who was forced to lift […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":37088,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,84,438,2481],"class_list":["post-37087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-ferrari","tag-fred-vasseur","tag-sf-25"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37087"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37087\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37091,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37087\/revisions\/37091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}