Vasseur to Wolff: B@st@rd, you are back!

With Max Verstappen and Lando Norris out of contention after their crash towards the end of the Austrian Grand Prix last Sunday, Russell in the Mercedes inherited the lead and kept McLaren's Oscar Piastri at bay in second, while Ferrari's Sainz took the final podium position.

After the Grand Prix in Spielberg, tv footage showed Wolff and Vasseur hugging and laughing as they went to take part in the podium celebration, the two known to be best friends in the paddocks.

Facing the media - including GrandPrix247 - after the race on Sunday, Vasseur was asked about what he said to his Mercedes counterpart, he joked: "I said, bastard, you are back."

And while Mercedes actually seem on the rise again - despite Wolff admitting their win in Spielberg was due to Norris and Verstappen crashing rather than their own pace - Ferrari seem to be struggling to match the performance of the Silver and Black Arrows despite an upgrade to the SF-24 in Barcelona.

While slightly better, the Reds had another tough weekend in Austria, Charles Leclerc in particular flopping in qualifying, both for the Sprint and the Grand Prix. Leclerc didn't manage a final lap in Sprint qualifying due to an anti-stall and in qualifying he fluffed his Q3 lap and started the race from sixth.

A first lap incident meant the Monegasque languished at the bottom of the grid for most of the race, and finished 11th as a result. Sainz was better in general - third in the race and fifth in the Sprint.

Vasseur was asked about Ferrari's struggles despite earlier claiming that they were moving in the right direction, he responded: "The question is a bit harsh.

"Honestly, yes, if we finish the lap yesterday in quali [Leclerc's lap], I think I will have the comments that 'you are back, you are fighting with Red Bull, you are less than one tenth of the pole position', blah blah blah.

"It starts in any case, and I think you can take my quote of Monaco, I think I was saying exactly the same. It's not after a good result or a bad result that we have to change the mindset or the team or whatever.

"That we had good weekends, that some weekends we were faster than everybody, some weekends we were at the level of Max, some weekends we are at step down and I think this weekend we started at step down. But the reaction was good and I think on Saturday morning we were in a much better shape.

"No, no, we don't want to change that. I think Silverstone will be helpful for us. We have ideas into the pipe, we have upgrades to bring later on that we won't change the approach and we will continue to push," Vasseur concluded.

Ferrari are still second in the 2024 Formula 1 Constructors' Standings, 64 points behind Red Bull Racing, while McLaren, 23 points behind in third, are closing in.