17/05/2025
NEWS STORY
Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur insists that technical director Loic Serra is not responsible for the team's poor start to the season.
As fired-up as ever, it appears the tifosi will have little to cheer for this weekend as Ferrari's struggles continue.
Fourth in the standings, the recent upgrades have made little difference as drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton continue to complain about various issues.
Former technical director Enrico Cardile - who remains on gardening leave ahead of taking up his position at Aston Martin - was replaced by Mercedes' Loic Serra, who was recruited by countryman Vasseur last year.
However, at a time many are blaming the team's technical director, Vasseur has leapt to his defence.
"When Loic arrived in Maranello six months ago, the current car was already, let's say, 90 percent defined," he told reporters. "Then, of course, it depends on individual elements, but the key decisions behind the project had already been made. I mean the weight distribution, the wheelbase, the general concept, and so on.
"This is something that affects all teams when there's a change in technical leadership," he added. "95% of the team is the same as the one that worked on the 2023, 2024 and 2025 projects," he continued. "I'm convinced that just because a project has problems doesn't mean the structure isn't working.
"We've made some mistakes with the car," he admitted, "We need to do a better job, but the motivation is there and the mind-set is there. We just need to keep growing as well as identifying and solving problems."
Like many, the time is fast approaching when a decision will have to be made on whether to give up on this season and switch the entire focus to 2026.
However, in Ferrari's case Vasseur insists that the team is still learning and can yet turn things around.
"We often end race weekends with the feeling that we haven't extracted the maximum from the car," he said. "As long as we have that feeling, I can't say I know the exact potential of the project. That's why I believe there are still signs there is room for improvement."
Check out our Friday gallery from Imola here.