Vasseur thanks Verstappen for creating ‘perfect’ Ferrari situation

Frederic Vasseur has thanked Max Verstappen for helping to keep Ferrari out of the headlines after the Mexico City Grand Prix, in a “perfect situation.”

Ferrari achieved a one-three result in Mexico as Carlos Sainz won from pole position with team-mate Charles Leclerc third as the team leap-frogged Red Bull in the constructors’ and now sits just 29 points behind leaders McLaren. 

The Scuderia has not won a title since the 2008 constructors’ crown, but most of the headlines from the race concerned the fallout of Verstappen’s incidents with title rival Lando Norris and the 20-second time penalties and two penalty points he achieved.

It is a situation Vasseur feels is “perfect” for Ferrari as it challenges for its first F1 title this late into a season since 2018.

“As long as you are all focused on Max and Norris, this is perfect for us,” Vasseur told media including RacingNews365.

“You can be focused on the fight between Toto [Wolff] and Christian [Horner], between Zak [Brown] and Christian or between Lando and Max as long as we are under the radar.

“It will allow us to be fully focused on what we are doing, for the team and the drivers, it is the perfect situation. 

“There will be tons to say about the Max and Lando incident, it will be the headlines and it is good for us. 

“It is clear for us to have no distractions, we are focused on what we are doing with the car, on the management of the team. 

“We are taking it race-by-race, and not thinking about the global picture, and it paid off.”