Fred Vasseur defends Ferrari strategy as he highlights Lewis Hamilton’s ‘real issue’ in Austria

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After the Austrian Grand Prix, Fred Vasseur stood by the team’s strategy, and credited another issue for Lewis Hamilton’s struggles.

In an unheard broadcast message after the race, Hamilton reminded Ferrari that he told them how difficult the tyre management and strategy would be in Austria.

Even beyond this, Hamilton was concerned about Ferrari’s straight-line speed and how it would hold them back on a track like the Red Bull Ring.

What went wrong for Ferrari at the Austrian Grand Prix?

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Lewis Hamilton has every right to be frustrated, as poor strategy from Ferrari and a lack of understanding of the hard tyre cost him a chance to pick up valuable points in the championship hunt.

However, Fred Vasseur came out in defence of Ferrari and their strategy choices after the race, crediting another issue that held Hamilton back.

READ MORE: Austrian GP fans have changed their minds about Lewis Hamilton after booing him on the podium

Fred Vasseur blames Ferrari’s lack of pace against Mercedes and Red Bull for poor result

Speaking to Sky Sports after the race, Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur defended the team’s strategy and tyre choices during the race after immense criticism.

Instead, Vasseur chalked up the team’s struggles to their lack of pace compared to Mercedes and Red Bull, suggesting they didn’t have much of a chance against them to begin with.

“The strategy is not the issue, I think the issue is that we didn’t have the pace of the Mercedes and Verstappen.

“We tried to compensate taking risks on the strategy, but it was not a good fight. It’s more a matter of pace. Compared to McLaren, we were there. Compared to Max and Mercedes, it was more difficult.

“We overpushed probably the first couple of laps to stay with them, and we destroyed a bit everything.”

READ MORE: Fred Vasseur claims ‘coin always lands in Mercedes’ favour’ after George Russell’s Austrian GP pole

Charles Leclerc agrees with Fred Vasseur’s strategy assessment

Speaking to French outlet Canal+ after the race, Charles Leclerc agreed with Fred Vasseur’s assessment, saying that no strategy was going to look good with how poor their pace was on the day.

“It was very close between two or three stops. We went for three stops because we had nothing left to lose, and the tyres were completely done on my second set of hards.

“Unfortunately, the strategy always looks bad when there’s no pace, so today I don’t think the strategy was the problem.”

Even Kimi Antonelli pointed out Ferrari’s struggles after spending a good portion of the race battling against both Hamilton and Leclerc.

Ferrari failed to meet their bare minimum targets with the new upgrades, which only puts more pressure on the team heading into the British Grand Prix.