The FIA's intervention on the ground affected Ferrari's budget 'a lot'

Shortly before Las Vegas Grand Prix THE FIAMotorsport's governing body has written to teams to inform them that it will take drastic action regarding the use of support elements (or satellite pads) which were used to protect car floors.

This led to several teams having to carry out urgent checks on their cars to modify the satellite skids and ensure they complied with the FIA's latest interpretation of what it considers. legal.

But even though the changes that had to be made didn't have a major effect on the competitive order of the grid, they did have consequences for some teams, notably when they had to rush to make changes to their cars.

Ferrarione of the teams suspected of making better use of the satellite skates, was not particularly happy with how things were going, and the team leader, Fred Vasseurdeclared in Las Vegas that he thought .

“We had to make the change, but we also had prior confirmation that the iron was legal, a confirmation from the FIA,” he told an official press conference.

“I think it was the right attitude on our part not to appeal, because I want to stay focused on the championship and not on these kinds of discussions. But the approach was strange.”

When asked what he meant by “strange,” Vasseur suggested the last-minute decision resulted in unnecessary spending.

team Principal and General manager, Scuderia Ferrari” data-author=”Ferrari” data-custom=”false” data-src=”https://cdn.motorsport.com/images/mgl/6D1JbE90/s8/frederic-vasseur-team-principa.jpg” data-show-title=”true” data-show-author=”true”>

Frédéric Vasseur, Team Principal and General Director of Scuderia Ferrari

“It is true that the technical directive arrived very late because we received it last Friday, a week before the Las Vegas qualifier,” he explained. “It’s a bit hard.”

“But that's the way things are. It's not an excuse to perform more or less in Las Vegas, they're two different things. I think the problem is [en Las Vegas] “It was more about tire management, and so that has nothing to do with it.”

Asked if he thought it had cost Ferrari's performance, Vasseur replied: “In terms of budget? Yes, a lot, because we had to redo all the slip-ups.”

Despite the changes, Ferrari had a good Las Vegas Grand Prix, with Carlos Sainz on the podium (third) and Charles Leclerc bedroom.