Vasseur: To improve, we need to step up in everything.

      At the Japanese stage of the championship, Ferrari drivers earned another 23 points – Charles Leclerc once again, for the second time this season, climbed onto the podium, while Lewis Hamilton finished sixth.

      After the race in Suzuka, its results were commented on air by Frederic Vasseur on Sky Italia, but he began by explaining what he meant when he said on Saturday that "a new championship starts from the Miami Grand Prix":

      "I think we need to clarify, as there was some misunderstanding yesterday. When I said that a new championship would start in Miami, I meant that everyone would prepare new updates, and everyone would have time to work on the software. This means that not only will we achieve improvements, but everyone will make progress.

      A month-long break in the middle of the season is unusual for Formula 1. All teams are pushing hard in their quest for improvements, so we'll see how much the situation changes."

      The Scuderia chief then moved on to the analysis of the race: "Lewis complained more about the tires than Charles, and I think his situation was also affected by the overtaking mode. If you are more than a second behind, you also lose the slipstream effect. This is what happened to Lewis, who at one point was battling with Lando Norris."

      Vasseur also noted that throughout the race and across the entire field, there was fierce competition, and battles between drivers followed one after another: "This is exactly what we are striving for. We want to see interesting battles on the track, with many duels, like today.

      Lando Norris, Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton, George Russell, Oscar Piastri – they are all professionals and are doing well at their jobs. I don't know how many overtakes there were today without a single contact between the cars – this is certainly good for both Formula 1 and for us.

      To improve, we need to step up in everything. We need to enhance aerodynamics, work better with tires, and learn to set up the chassis better. On the straights, we are behind Mercedes, but the development of the power units is practically frozen until the ADUO program comes into effect. And if we focus all our attention on just one element, we will lose pace overall. We have not yet fully unlocked the potential of the SF-26.

      I don't know if Mercedes is faster than us by five or six tenths in qualifying, but in the race, the gap is clearly smaller. This is because during battles on the track, you can use the slipstream and stay close to their cars. But if we want to overtake them, we need to make a small step forward, and that is our next goal."