Ferrari to ‘refocus’ after Austrian Grand Prix

Ferrari’s Team Principal, Fred Vassuer, has said the team will ‘learn’ and ‘refocus’ after a disappointing result at the Red Bull Ring, having fallen back during the Austrian Grand Prix.

Feature image credit: Ferrari Media Centre

Ferrari endured a bittersweet Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring, having entered the weekend on the back of their first win of 2026 and their first win since October, 2024.

Both their drivers were able to benefit from Red Bull’s four-time world champion’s crash in Q3, when Max Verstappen spun out on his final run and hit the barrier at turn nine. As a result, they were able to start on the front row with Charles Leclerc in second, and Lewis Hamilton bested third on the grid.

However, come race day, the two drivers were not able to capitalise on their starting position and instead fell backwards as they seemed to be chasing after the Mercedes of George Russell, eating through their tyres.

Ferrari was the only team inside the top 10 to run a three-stop strategy, with Hamilton being the first driver to pull the trigger for the first pit-stop sequence on lap 12. After that, the team were never really able to threaten for a top-three position.

At best, Hamilton finished ahead of his teammate in fifth, whilst Leclerc came home in eighth.

George Russell dominates his way to victory at Austrian Grand Prix

In hindsight, Vasseur admitted their race wasn’t realistic with the Mercedes, and they were reacting too aggressively, having pushed hard on the opening laps.

The team boss has labelled the weekend as a ‘challenging’ one, starting from the opening practice session and says the team will be looking to learn and refocus ahead of the British Grand Prix next week. He said:

“It was a challenging weekend: I don’t think we got it off on the right foot on Friday, as we struggled in both FP1 and FP2 and weren’t able to complete proper long runs. We recovered well over a single lap in qualifying, but we probably didn’t prepare the race as well as we should have.

“Looking back, we were perhaps too focused on Mercedes today. We pushed hard in the opening laps and then reacted too aggressively with the strategy, trying to stay with them when, realistically, that wasn’t our race.

“We will learn from this, refocus on ourselves and immediately turn our attention to the British Grand Prix next week.”

Read more Formula 1 here:

• George Russell dominates his way to victory at Austrian Grand Prix
• Austrian Grand Prix: what are the possible race strategies?
• Russell ‘did everything right’ after Verstappen crash in Austrian GP
• F1 Austrian GP: Antonelli tops both practice, reliability problems and rookies
• Mercedes given ‘reality check’ ahead of Austrian Grand Prix
• McLaren to bring ‘experimental rear wing’ to Austrian Grand Prix
• Austrian Grand Prix: F1 schedule and starting times

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.