Ferrari deputy team principal Jerome D’Ambrosio has reflected on the two contrasting stories that emerged from the Monaco Grand Prix for the Maranello-based team.
A Sunday of mixed emotions
Ferrari experienced a weekend of two very different outcomes in Monaco. On one side of the garage there was satisfaction, thanks to another strong performance from Lewis Hamilton, who continues to build momentum and confidence with the SF-26 and secured an excellent second-place finish.
On the other side, there was disappointment for Charles Leclerc, whose race ended in retirement after an accident following the Safety Car restart. The incident is likely to remain a major talking point in the days ahead, given the circumstances that led to the Monegasque driver crashing out of his home Grand Prix.
Speaking to Sky Sport F1, Ferrari deputy team principal Jerome D’Ambrosio offered his thoughts on a chaotic and unusual Sunday in the Principality.
D’Ambrosio’s assessment
“With Lewis, it’s clear to see over the last couple of races that he is gaining confidence with the car and feels increasingly comfortable,” D’Ambrosio explained. “The gap to Mercedes, especially Antonelli’s Mercedes, is still there at the moment. However, we are maximising what we have available and Lewis maximised exactly what was possible to achieve today.”
Jérôme D’Ambrosio was also asked about Charles Leclerc’s accident and the circumstances surrounding his retirement.
“First of all, it’s important to clarify that when a driver hits the wall, there are often several factors involved. Today there was something that didn’t work as it should have. Looking ahead to the next races, our role is to support Charles 100%. We’ll return to the factory tomorrow, analyse exactly what happened, determine the best solution moving forward and then proceed in the direction we believe is the right one.”
The Belgian also spoke more broadly about Ferrari’s position in the championship and the team’s approach to the remainder of the season. Listening to D’Ambrosio’s comments, Ferrari’s mindset appears clear: the team does not want to create unrealistic expectations or draw premature conclusions based on individual weekends.
“We focus on one race at a time,” the former Formula 1 driver said. “We try to extract the maximum from what we have. The championship is very long, that’s true, but at the moment Mercedes is clearly one step ahead and therefore we need to keep working.”
Jérôme D’Ambrosio also admitted that Ferrari is still trying to fully understand the behaviour of the current generation of cars and the relationship between expectations and on-track performance: “One thing is certain: right now there isn’t a 100% correlation between what we expected at certain races and what has actually happened. It’s still early in the championship, but more importantly it’s very early in this rules cycle.
“We need to see these cars perform on different types of circuits before drawing definitive conclusions. For me, the important thing is to arrive in Barcelona with a very analytical approach and focus on doing the best possible job.”
The Ferrari deputy team principal also warned against arriving at future races with excessive expectations, believing that such an approach can negatively affect performance during a race weekend: “We shouldn’t go there with too many expectations because that often causes you to react badly when things don’t immediately go as planned during the weekend. We need to remain as focused and as neutral as possible so that we can extract the maximum from what we have in our hands.”
Ferrari leaves Monaco with mixed feelings. Lewis Hamilton’s second-place finish provided another encouraging result and further evidence of his growing adaptation to the SF-26, while Charles Leclerc’s retirement left the team with important questions to answer before Formula 1 heads to Barcelona for the next round of the season.
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