Frederic Vasseur: Oliver Berman acted flawlessly

Frederic Vasseur, the head of the Ferrari team, spoke highly of Oliver Berman, who earned points for 7th place in his debut race in Formula 1.

Q: Would you say Oliver exceeded your expectations?
Frederic Vasseur: Yes, because, as you can imagine, we did not intend to act this way. When we asked Oliver to drive on the Friday before qualifying, I was prepared for a challenging weekend. But yesterday he did a great job, gradually increasing his speed during practice and then qualifying with great confidence.

He was only a few thousandths short going into the last session, and today I was afraid that he would have to perform many difficult tasks – starting the race, making pit stops, but he acted very correctly, without making a single mistake .

And in the end, when we told him that Norris and Hamilton were overtaking him, he was able to improve and perfectly completed all the tasks assigned to him.

Question: After Oliver managed to get ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, it seems he only lost nine seconds to his teammate Charles Leclerc over the remaining distance of the race. For a driver who had never driven the full distance of a Grand Prix in a Formula 1 car, he did well. Moreover, he rode his best lap just before the finish!
Frederic Vasseur: But we had virtually no rubber degradation, which is again good news! (laughs) Actually, Oliver did an excellent job with the tires, because it is one thing to show a good pace, but it is much more difficult to correctly perform all the tasks in the complex. But he showed real professional maturity, performed flawlessly, gave good feedback and communicated completely calmly over the radio with the engineer. Thanks to him and all of us, it was also easier to stay calm.

Q: It was great to see Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari pits after being released from hospital. It’s clearly too early to tell, but will he be able to get behind the wheel again in Melbourne? What do doctors and Carlos himself say?
Frederic Vasseur: Absolutely, we are working on this race now and we will make a decision on Carlos closer to Melbourne. In any case, we already know that Oliver is a good reserve player, but for us it is important that Carlos recovers and gets back into shape.

Q: It’s clear that Oliver will have to return to Formula 2 anyway, but given how great he was this weekend, could you perhaps help him get a place in one of the Ferrari customer teams next year?
Frederic Vasseur: Yes, that is possible, but you have to understand that in a few weeks today’s results will be forgotten, and Oliver will have to refocus on the tasks ahead of him in Formula 2. He missed this weekend and lost the opportunity to earn a lot of points, so when he comes back he will have to make up for it, and that is not easy. But this year we are giving him the opportunity to work on Friday training.