Vasseur balks: 'Sainz could potentially have fought for more'

Ferrari seemed to have a chance at pole position for the Australian Grand Prix for a long time. In the end, Carlos Sainz fell just short of first place, which means he will have to start from behind Max Verstappen. Still, team principal Fred Vasseur thinks there could have been more in it for the Spaniard, he told F1TV.

During the free practice sessions, Charles Leclerc impressed. Twice the Monegasque set the fastest time, ahead of Verstappen. In qualifying, it was precisely Sainz who was very strong. The Spaniard eventually had to concede to Verstappen, but clearly the Ferrari is fast this weekend.

Vasseur also believes his team performing well this weekend. However, he does not dare to say what that is due to: "It's always a matter of hundreds or maximum tenths of seconds. From one lap to the other, you can look like a hero or zero. But we have to pay attention to this. We were really focused on the fact that we have to improve the car to do a better job, not to think about what could be the results of the qualifying, because this is not the right approach."

Could Sainz have beaten Verstappen?

The Ferrari team principal thinks there could have been more in qualifying: "Always. But it's true that today, Carlos had a good last lap before a small mistake. Potentially had the possibility to fight for more. But the same for Charles. But OK, now let's be focused on tomorrow. Yesterday we had a decent long stint, I would say. It's a good opportunity tomorrow to score a point. The race will be difficult with the tyres. And so far, we have shown good consistency."