Vasseur: The lasagna is in the oven, now we wait for it to cook!

Historically, Ferrari always has all the ingredients for Formula 1 success but need to keep calm and follow the "recipe" after a slow start to the season, according to team boss Vasseur, speaking during the Saudi Grand Prix weekend.

The hungry Italian team, without a championship since 2008, have yet to reach the podium in four races with Charles Leclerc and newly-arrived seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton.

Last weekend's Bahrain Grand Prix, won by Australian Oscar Piastri and champions McLaren, was their best team effort yet, with Leclerc finishing fourth and Hamilton fifth.

In China two races earlier, Hamilton won the Saturday Sprint Race, but both he and Leclerc were disqualified from the main Sunday race for technical reasons.

In Japan, the race before Bahrain, Leclerc finished P4 and Hamilton P7. In the Australian opener in Melbourne, they were P8 and P10, respectively.

“The ingredients are all there, but now it’s like cooking, and you have to put the ingredients together at the right stage,” said Vasseur ahead of the Saudi Grand Prix at Jeddah’s Corniche Circuit.

Vasseur revealed: “Honestly, I don’t have the feeling that we’ve extracted the best from the car so far—or perhaps only on some occasions, in some sessions. But I’d say that’s true for us and for the others. Even McLaren, with the step they have compared to the rest of the grid, sometimes have one of their cars struggling a bit more. It is what it is.”

The Frenchman pointed to the closeness of the competition, with stable regulations before a major shake-up next year and at least four teams capable of winning, punishing the slightest mistake in qualifying: “Then the conclusion from outside is that it’s a drama. We’re more focused on pure performance...”

“That means we need to stay calm in the analysis if we want to improve. I think it was one of the skills of the team last year to be able to capitalise on hundredths of a second at a time. I hope we’ll follow the same path this year.”

Ferrari, runners-up to McLaren in 2024, last won a F1 drivers’ title with Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 and the constructors’ in 2008.

McLaren have so far won three of four races and taken the same number of pole positions and fastest laps, with Lando Norris three points clear of Piastri.

Leclerc, who is P5 overall with 32 points, and Hamilton, P7 on 25, both know the gap to McLaren remains significant. Said Leclerc in Jeddah: “I think we are two to three tenths off. Similar to Mercedes—maybe Mercedes slightly ahead.”