Frédéric Vasseur: Ferrari and Lewis needed time

      In qualifying in Mexico Lewis Hamilton set the third-fastest time, after which he said: "I'm finally beginning to understand how to drive the Ferrari, the car Charles Leclerc has been fortunate enough to race in over the past seven years. I finally feel like I'm getting closer to the target…"

      It's quite likely that he could have finished in a decent position in the race if not for circumstances and a 10-second penalty, as a result of which he finished only 8th in the Mexican Grand Prix.

      According to Frederic Vasseur, both the team and Lewis needed time to establish mutual understanding and effective cooperation — as the Scuderia boss put it, "to be on the same page."

      "The results this year are very tight, and it's been like that since the start of the year," the championship's official website quotes Vasseur as saying. "Sometimes a driver who starts 18th will finish 3rd or 4th. All of this shows that if you fail to get something right even to a small degree, you will inevitably lose positions.

      "For us to be on the same page when working on certain nuances, Lewis and the team needed time, given that now you can lose positions over the smallest detail. Therefore, we must fully control everything down to the last detail, so we have a very clear goal ahead of us.

      "All this contributes to the overall motivation, and in any case we are aiming to finish second in the Constructors' Championship. The task is not easy but interesting, and we are determined to fight until the end of the championship, so let's see how events unfold in the next rounds."

      After the Mexican Grand Prix Ferrari returned to second place in the Constructors' standings, but it is only one point ahead of Mercedes. Meanwhile, Hamilton is sixth in the championship, Charles Leclerc fifth.