Vasseur: The fight for second place is still on

Ferrari where nowhere near competitiveness in over the Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend, the only highlight being Leclerc's second place in qualifying, after which it was all downhill for the Reds.

Leclerc did not manage to get past the formation lap on Sunday after he crashed due to a hydraulics' problem, while Carlos Sainz could only deliver sixth place in the Grand Prix.

However, and by closing the gap to Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship to twenty points, Vasseur believes his team still have a chance to secure the runner up position behind Champions Red Bull.

Reflecting on Ferrari's race last Sunday, the Frenchman said: "We are very disappointed because we could have scored plenty of important points for the championship, but we lost Charles even before the start due to a reliability problem, which sent him off the track on the formation lap.

"He would have been starting on the front row and on top of that, we had sacrificed his Sprint chances yesterday to favour today’s Grand Prix," he added, referring to Ferrari's decision not to use new tyres in the Sprint shootout, saving them for Sunday's race.

The result was Leclerc and Sainz qualifying seventh and ninth for the Sprint and finishing fifth and eighth.

As for Sainz's race, Vasseur commented: "Carlos’ weekend was not without its own difficulties and he struggled at the start with the clutch, losing a few places.

"However, in the race, especially the first stint, he did a very good job of managing the tyres and was able to go and pass both Mercedes which means that over the course of the weekend we made up two points on our rivals.

"It could have been so much more, but nevertheless, the fight for second place is still on," Vasseur insisted in conclusion.

As for Sainz, he added: "It was a difficult day. The starts were not good due to a clutch problem that we also had yesterday [Saturday] and we lost some positions there.

"From there on, I was able to pass both Mercedes on track, but that was it. Unfortunately, today Aston Martin, Red Bull and McLaren were faster than us and P6 was the maximum.

"It is a big shame that Charles didn't have the chance to start the race as we could have scored very important points against Mercedes here in Brazil.

"Now it’s time to recharge our batteries and hopefully we will be back in good form in Las Vegas," the Spaniard concluded.