Ferrari boss explains Hamilton-Leclerc team orders in Baku

• Hamilton asked to pass Leclerc due to tyre advantage
• Ferrari later instructed the drivers to swap back
• Vasseur says qualifying mistakes cost the team more than race tactics

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has defended the call to issue team orders during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, after Charles Leclerc was instructed to let Lewis Hamilton through in the middle stages of the race.

Leclerc, who had started on medium tyres, found himself ahead of Hamilton following the pit stops. But with Hamilton running the more durable hard compound, Ferrari felt he had the better chance of attacking Lando Norris ahead.

“I think the situation was clear for us, that Lewis had a tyre advantage, and we asked Charles to let him go to try to overtake… Norris,” Vasseur explained. “On top of that, Charles had the issue with the recovery, and we are not at the top [use] on the engine. I think that it was the best option for us to do this move.”

Hamilton was unable to make progress against the McLaren, and in the closing laps Ferrari instructed the drivers to swap back. The execution was messy, with Hamilton crossing the line only 0.4s ahead of his teammate.

“We asked to swap back, and it looks like Lewis had a misjudgement on the position of the start and finish line,” Vasseur said, adding that Leclerc accepted the situation without complaint.

The double-points finish left Ferrari behind Mercedes in the Constructors’ Championship, with the Silver Arrows moving four points ahead in the battle for second. But Vasseur insisted the real damage came in qualifying, not in the race itself.

“If we lost something, it was yesterday, not today,” he said. “Today, we started behind Norris, we finished behind Norris. It is like it is. It’s more yesterday, I think, that we had the car. The driver was able to fight for P1, all the free practise, and we finished P10 and P12. Lewis – FP1, FP2, FP3 went well. There was a good pace over the weekend. The first set in Q1 went well also. And in Q2 he did two laps, but out of the pace. This is the main issue of the weekend, these two laps. Because, honestly, if you put him on the first four, I think he finishes on the podium.”

Despite the disappointment, Vasseur said Ferrari’s recent speed shows the team is moving in the right direction.

“We need to do a better job collectively, because to be P12 is not the result that we are expecting. But it’s true that the last couple of weekends, if you consider this one, Monza, even Zandvoort, the pace was good. We are getting there now. One thing is to have the potential, the other one is to deliver. We need [to complete the] execution to do our job.”