But details were scarce as the team confirmed his absence. The Scuderia’s statement read: “Fred Vasseur will not be present at the circuit today. Following some medical checks, Fred will remain under observation at a local medical facility. No further medical information will be provided. We wish Fred a speedy recovery and look forward to seeing him back at the track soon.”
D’Ambrosio took leadership of the team in Vasseur’s absence on Saturday and, speaking after qualifying, refused to offer a clearer sense of when his boss might be back on his feet. Asked by Sky Sports F1 if the Frenchman is expected to be back at the circuit for Sunday’s Grand Prix, the Belgian simply replied: “I won’t go into further detail.”
That came after he had offered a small bit of insight into Vasseur’s condition, confirming that he is not too seriously ill or injured. D’Ambrosio said: “Without going into details, Fred is okay. He had to go under some checks today, but he’s okay.”
It was an underwhelming day for Ferrari who, after dominating both hours of practice on Friday, were considered the favourites for pole position in qualifying. That went to Kimi Antonelli, however, while Max Verstappen was also faster than the two red cars in his Red Bull to deny Lewis Hamilton a place on the front row. The Brit had to settle for third on the grid, one place ahead of Charles Leclerc.
“It was tough for us,” said Hamilton. “I think we were looking so strong in practice. We barely changed anything but the car was feeling so different once we got to qualifying, for some reason, so we need to deep dive into that. But I gave it absolutely everything, I was as close to the barriers as I could be.”
He was more upbeat than Leclerc who loves his home circuit but was unsettled throughout qualifying by a Ferrari car which is proving to be too temperamental for the Monegasque’s liking right now. He sighed: “The last two weekends have been particularly messy, with something specifically on my car that I’m really struggling with at the moment.
“I think we have the solution. I’ll have to try it in Barcelona to see if it is getting better. But the inconsistency of the car at the moment is extremely tricky and it made me push in Q3 while not really knowing where the limit of the car was. And I overdid it [and hit the wall].”