Despite a challenging, frustration-fuelled Miami Grand Prix, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur still feels the team “did a good job.”

That’s because, despite the drama, Vasseur was able to speak clearly with both of his drivers to understand exactly where their frustrations came from.

Vasseur insists Ferrari “did a good job” in Miami

It was a seventh- and eighth-place finish for the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton at the Miami Grand Prix, but just looking at the race results alone wouldn’t give you the full impact of the frustration felt by both drivers in Florida.

The drivers behind the wheel of their SF-25s were fairly evenly matched; neither Leclerc nor Hamilton were able to cut down the gap to the Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli just ahead, despite both requesting that the team allow them to pass their teammate.

Ferrari’s considered responses to both drivers left both frustrated, with Hamilton saying, “have a tea break while you’re at it, come on!” when asked to wait for a response.

Nevertheless, Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur felt that the outfit did a good job in Miami.

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“I can understand the frustration of the guys in the cars but in the end it was well executed because Lewis was behind Charles, with a softer compound, we let him go and as per our internal rules in the team, we swapped back at the end,” Vasseur told Sky Sports F1 after the race.

“We gave the chance to Lewis to go in front of Charles because it was impossible to overtake between them if we don’t let them go and it was an opportunity for Lewis to catch Antonelli. I think we did a good job.”

Ultimately, neither Hamilton nor Leclerc were able to catch the Mercedes, but Vasseur was sympathetic to their mid-race frustration.

“I had a discussion with Lewis and I can perfectly understand the frustration. They are champions, they want to win races,” said Vasseur.

“We are asking them to let their teammate go. It’s not easy, it’s never easy. We took the responsibility to do it because it’s the policy of the team.”

And it was the team that shone, he argues.

“We are racing for Ferrari first. Honestly, I think as a team we did a good job. Again, we can argue that it would have been better to do it half a lap before or half a lap later.

“But when you are in the pit wall you have to understand if the car is behind is faster because of DRS or not. It’s not an easy call. It’s always much easier to do it two hours later.

“We asked them to do it. They did it. Now the frustration when you are in the car, I can perfectly understand this. We had a discussion and it was much more relaxed.”

Naturally, the tense moments in the race sparked questions about how the drivers should feel about the team, and if they may have felt like their trust was broken by the delay — but Vasseur disagreed.

“[Hamilton] can trust me, I can trust him. The same with Charles,” he said.

“When I have to make a decision, I’m making a decision for Ferrari with the element that you have [to do it] live.

“It’s not that you have 30 minutes to have a look at the data. You have to decide which is the fastest track, if it’s coming from the DRS or not.

“Perhaps a bit slow, but it took us one lap or one-lap-and-a-half to make a decision. You can always, when you are behind, have the feeling that you have to swap in the next corner.

“And when you are in front, you say, ‘please have a look if it’s not the DRS effect’. I think it was the reverse situation 10 laps later.”

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