Vasseur shuts down excuse for Ferrari's US GP Qualifying: 'That would be bulls**t'
Photo: Race Pictures
Henry Eccles is a freelance Formula 1 journalist for GPblog, covering breaking news, live race blogs, and features across the F1 calendar. Since joining in 2026, he has produced high-volume reporting on the sport’s biggest stories, alongside feature pieces including analysis and historical content.
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has shut down any notion that windy conditions played a part in the team's poor Qualifying performance at the United States GP. Despite looking strong in practice, drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton qualified P4 and P5, respectively.
Having topped each of the three practice sessions prior to Qualifying, hopes were high that the Scuderia would be in the fight for Pole Position, but it was Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli on top in Austin, with Leclerc two tenths down on the Italian, while Hamilton was a further tenth astray.
Seven-time world champion Hamilton was puzzled over what went wrong for the Italian team, pointing to Ferrari's straight-line speed deficit so far this season as a possible explanation. Meanwhile, his teammate Leclerc reported difficulties regarding his tyres in Austin.
Frontrunners Antonelli and Max Verstappen complained of windy conditions during Qualifying, with the latter, who finished P2 ahead of teammate Isack Hadjar, having had his final lap time of Q3 deleted. For Ferrari boss Vasseur, however, this would be a "bulls**t" excuse for his drivers' performances.
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Wind a 'bulls**t excuse' for poor Qualifying, says Vasseur
Photo: Race Pictures
Speaking to Sky Sports F1 post-Qualifying, Vasseur claimed Ferrari had enough to fight for Pole all until the final corner in Austin. The Frenchman said: "There are mixed feelings for sure because I think the potential was there all over the weekend and we had good pace in all the free practice, and until the last corner, we are fighting for pole."
Vasseur hoped Sunday's race will ultimately tell a different story, but highlighted concerns surrounding tyre degradation. "It is as it is, and it is all part of the game," Vasseur added. "But I think [the race] will be a different exercise, and it will be difficult with a lot of degradation, but for sure, there is a bit of frustration because we had very good potential until the last corner of Q3.
The 58-year-old said Ferrari were in better form during Q2, but lost performance during the next session. The Ferrari boss then rejected the idea of wind affecting the drivers as quickly as he raised it, emphasising the conditions were the same for all 22 drivers.
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Vasseur said: "We were in better shape. Q2 was a bit faster for everybody [than Q1], and we all struggled to improve in Q3; perhaps it was a bit of wind, but it is also a distraction for the drivers, but okay, it is the same for everybody.
"We can't complain about the wind; this would be bulls**t, and we have to do a better job on the last lap, because we had the potential to be at least on the front row."
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