Vasseur warns Ferrari must shift focus to race pace as tyre degradation looms at Sepang

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has signalled a strategic reset heading into the Malaysian Grand Prix at Sepang International Circuit, warning that tyre degradation will define the weekend and force the team to rethink its setup priorities.

Speaking at the pre-race press conference in Sepang, Vasseur acknowledged that the recent run of low-degradation venues — including Monza, Madrid, and Baku — had given teams a false sense of the current competitive order. Sepang, he said, is an entirely different proposition.

“This weekend will be mega dominated by degradation,” Vasseur said. “We saw this morning that it’s a completely different story compared to the last four or five weeks. We had almost zero deg. This weekend will be another story. It means that we have to change a little bit the focus and to be much more focused on the race pace.”

The shift in approach comes after a difficult Azerbaijan Grand Prix, where Ferrari was forced to add downforce to counter grip issues — a compromise that cost the team on the straights. Vasseur was candid about the limitations in Baku but pointed to a front-row qualifying result as a relative positive.

“We knew before going to Baku that it wouldn’t be the easiest weekends of the season, that with the straightline that we have, for sure the deficit was huge,” he said. “We tried to do our best so that even if it was not an easy one, we were still on the first row. It’s not also a bad result in itself, the quali at least.”

Early signs from Friday practice suggest the competitive picture has already shifted. Max Verstappen set the fastest time in the opening session for Red Bull, with Mercedes’ George Russell second and Red Bull’s Isack Hadjar third. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was fourth, while Lewis Hamilton — in his debut season with the Scuderia — ended the session sixth.

Ferrari currently sits second in the constructors’ championship, 160 points behind leader Mercedes, making every point at Sepang significant as the season heads into its second half.