Frédéric Vasseur (Alfa Romeo): “A real performance deficit in qualifying”

The results after three Grands Prix are not the most brilliant. Is there a “fire at the lake” this evening?

The Hungaroring is a complicated route by nature since you cannot overtake in the race. So, obviously, when you start from the back of the grid, it's not forgiving... Too bad because the pace in the race was really good. Kimi (Räikkönen. Editor's note) was also not helped by the 5-second penalty (wrong grid location. Editor's note) which made him lose contact with the group of Or with, Norris and others.

We know partly where our deficit comes from, but we absolutely must understand why we are not capable in qualifying of matching the pace of the Alpha Tauri to Renault. In the race we were faster than Haas including one car finishing in the points! We have to understand, because we won't get out of this by starting from the back of the grid.

Were these difficulties anticipated? Did you think you would suffer so much at the start of the championship?

We hadn't had the chance to ride and we arrived at the Austrian Grand Prix without really knowing what to expect. We had a couple of things in production when we left for Melbourne, and we took them to Spielberg. This is obviously not enough. We're pretty good in terms of race operations, but in qualifying, it's a disaster.

Does the sequence of races make any hope of returning to the points vain?

We are suffering from a real performance deficit in qualifying that everyone sees, but we shouldn't get upset. You have to stay calm, not overreact to try to understand, because it doesn't work like that. We have to be realistic, we are going to drag ourselves with this handicap as long as we do not manage to make better use of this package in qualifying.

It's going to take a little time, because there is also a form of uncertainty linked to the budget. We don't know how much money we are going to lose and we have to tighten our belts until we have better visibility on the calendar, on the number of races.

Does the solution also come from Ferrari whose engine is losing speed?

There is a part that is in our hands, and a second that is not. On the part that concerns us, we can correct it quite quickly. Already, if we manage to qualify a few lines higher, that would allow us to move up in the points.

Kimi has seen others during his long career, but hasn't this difficult start to the season demobilized him a little?

That's certainly not the word I would use looking at his race today. His pace was really good. Afterwards, there's no point hiding your face, when you start at the last row in Budapest and you take a 5'' penalty during the pit-stop which puts you back to last, it's difficult to imagine a more improbable scenario.

Speaking of an improbable scenario, that of the return of Sergio Pérez to Hinwil is there one?

Come on, get serious! We are in the middle of six races in a row and the priority is to get ourselves back into working order rather than going to discuss 2021 with the drivers. The market will not change in the coming weeks, at least concerning the one on which all eyes are focused (Sebastian Vettel. Editor’s note). We concentrate on the job we have to do, and we'll see later.

Direction England and Silverstone then, but after a visit to the house, in Hinwil…

Fortunately, it was starting to get a little long for the guys. Three races in a row is tough even if everyone had a good break before. We were all happy to come back, but the next few months will undoubtedly be more complicated.

Finally, what was the atmosphere like for three weeks?

Obviously special. Same motivation, same approach to the race, there was no difference at this level. On the other hand, for the rest... Me who is used to talking with guests, journalists, guys from other teams, it made me as miserable as a stone. We're not singers, but we also do all that for the show, for the spectators.

It feels good to ride, everyone is happy to be back racing, but the whole weekend is dictated by the health protocol and it's a bit heavy. Well, we all also know that we have no room for error, that the slightest incident would be dramatic. So we must accept and rejoice in what we have.