Vasseur hits out at Lewis Hamilton Ferrari suggestion with ‘stop with this’ plea

Fred Vasseur Dismisses Lewis Hamilton Ferrari Struggles Narrative

Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has expressed his frustration with the ongoing narrative surrounding Lewis Hamilton's adaptation to the team, urging for the speculation to cease. Vasseur emphasized that all drivers are in a constant state of learning and development.

Hamilton's start to the season with Ferrari has been widely discussed, marked by a lack of podium finishes. While a Sprint victory in China offered a glimmer of hope, a more encouraging performance was seen in Imola, where Hamilton climbed from 12th to finish fourth.

When questioned about whether Hamilton's adaptation is performance-dependent, Vasseur stated, "I think we have to stop with this. Every single driver is working on himself, working with the team, trying to develop something, trying to do a better job. It's not that on Saturday evening he's not well prepared, not in good condition with the car, and on Sunday he's a magician and everything is perfect. We just have to stay calm."

He added, "For sure, we need to improve the communication, the understanding of the process, and the tools and the software and everything. But honestly, he did a very good job in China, he did a very good job today. Step by step, we will be there."

Hamilton himself appeared more optimistic post-race, indicating to his race engineer that a win was achievable with the car's Imola performance level. "Thanks so much, mate. Woo! What a great race, guys. Fantastic stops, strategy. The car felt great today. I’m so grateful, so proud. Grazie tutti. And the Tifosi, that was for them. Let’s keep pushing. If we get that qualifying better and we can race like that, then we’ll be winning."

Speaking to the media after exiting the car, Hamilton mentioned having ideas for car improvement that have faced internal reluctance. "I’ve got some ideas that I’m going to try and apply this week that people have been a little bit reluctant to do it, I think because we’ve had lots of other things to focus on," he revealed. "But hopefully, we can find something, some more performance."

He highlighted the positives from the Imola weekend, noting, "The strategy was really fantastic. They made great calls, didn’t put a foot wrong there. China, I felt really aligned with the car and then the only other time was today. I felt that synergy. The set-up was great. I think we made a bit of an improvement in our performance for the race. Just got to unlock that potential in qualifying; if we’d qualified better, we’d have been fighting for a podium."