"Remove the wing" - Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur's only solution to beating Red Bull's straight-line advantage

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has humorously said that the team will need to remove their front wing to catch Red Bull. Even though the Pracing Horse had the pace in Baku, they were still miles behind the dominant Austrian-British team.

Speaking to Sky Sports, the Ferrari team boss said that he was satisfied with the result and was willing to take positives from the weekend. He also did point out how they need to improve their race pace significantly:

"Overall, with the pole position and the podium today, that's (good) for the morale of the team, for the motivation, and so it's always important. We have to take the positive of the weekend, but I think on one lap, the pace was there.

"And now we have to improve and compete on the long stint. Even if the pace works there at the end, we are not forward to fight. But, okay. let's take it like this, and, you know, focus on Miami, we have to learn from the rights."

When asked how he plans to close the gap to Red Bull, Fred Vasseur paused for a while and said that Ferrari would have to remove their rear wing. On a serious note, he added not all tracks will be like Baku, so his team could fare much better on other tracks:

"Remove the wing, but it's not an option!...I think, at least in Baku, it's quite difficult to fight, but I won't be always like Baku. First we have to understand exactly the story and to do a step on this one."

Ferrari are a whopping118 points behind Red Bull in the constructors' championship. So they need to capitalise on every single race weekend to close the huge gap.

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Charles Leclerc admits Ferrari cannot close gap to Red Bull anytime soon

Charles Leclerc of Ferrari finished third at the 2023 F1 Azerbaijan GP after both Red Bull drivers easily overtook him in the first few laps. That proved that the Italian team are miles behind the reigning world champions in terms of race pace. In a post-race media interaction, the Monagasque admitted:

“Red Bull are in another league when it comes to the race. A very good (qualy) lap managed to put us in front, but over 51 laps, it was just not possible; they have so much pace than us in race pace. They found something that we didn’t yet.”

Ferrari will hope to fare better at the next race in Miami.