Vasseur temporizes after Hamilton's sprint pole: "We're not world champions, we have to calm down"

Amidst the excitement and joy of the first pole position – Sprint, of course – of Lewis Hamilton At Ferrari, Frédéric Vasseur remains unfazed. Although happy to see his new driver take pole position in his second qualifying session with the Italian team, the French driver remains focused on the main objective of the weekend: winning the Grand Prix on Sunday, to erase the insult of last week's disappointing Australian Grand Prix. The Team Principal of the Team calms things down and tempers expectations, judging that the situation could quickly change within a very compact peloton.

First pole position in sprint race for Lewis Hamilton at Ferrari ✨#ChineseGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/symEEhnuzk

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) March 21, 2025

“Yes… but at the same time, we are not world champions, we have to calm down, he declared on Canal+ after the Sprint qualificationsIt's good to do this because I think it puts a positive energy back into the team and for Lewis, it's a good step. But it's not like we've won ten races in a row! You have to stay calm: in all situations, whether positive or negative, you have to try to understand what's happening and not get upset. That was true last week, it's true today. 

Tires, the X factor in Hamilton and Ferrari's pole?

For Frédéric Vasseur, if the difference was made by the steering wheel of Lewis Hamilton – six-time winner of the Chinese Grand Prix – it was also made by the tires in Shanghai. “The whole day has been a little weird. The McLaren were five or six tenths ahead [in FP1], Lewis was ahead in SQ1, then the McLarens again in SQ2… It changes a lot when you don't use the tires in the right window, you're capable of being five tenths ahead or five tenths behind, underlines the boss of the Scuderia. It's a good lesson to learn all year. You have to focus on that, put a lot of energy into understanding the tires. But just because we're ahead or behind on one weekend doesn't mean it's the end of the championship."

On Saturday, during the Sprint, Lewis Hamilton and Ferrari will have to resist against Max Verstappen, on the front row alongside the Briton, and facing the McLarens, who missed out during the Sprint qualifying despite a pace much higher than the competition. On the second row, Charles Leclerc will start 4th. Since 2021 and the introduction of this new format, Ferrari has never won a single Sprint race.

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