F1 News: Vasseur forgives ‘pet’ Hamilton for lack of speed
(GMM) Just as Charles Leclerc is becoming more upbeat about Ferrari’s performance, aging Lewis Hamilton’s (pictured) woes are only deepening.
Team boss Frederic Vasseur had predicted a boost for the team from the flexible wing clampdown this weekend in Barcelona, and it seems to have materialized somewhat.
Championship leader Oscar Piastri said after Friday’s running that Max Verstappen is in the hunt for victory this weekend, and “Ferrari and Mercedes are also close”.
“Ferrari and Mercedes have closed the gap,” Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko agreed.
Leclerc has spent much of the first third of 2025 looking and sounding downbeat, but he qualified and finished P2 last Sunday in Monaco and declared on Friday in Barcelona: “We are not far away.
“The performance is there.”
The report from the other red cockpit, however, could not have been more different. “Undriveable,” he told his increasingly high-profile race engineer Riccardo Adami.
The seven time world champion even criticized the FIA for trying to curb front wing flexibility, and disagreed with his old boss Toto Wolff that the clampdown could benefit Ferrari the most.
“I have absolutely no idea what this (FIA clampdown) is supposed to achieve,” said Hamilton, “and where Toto got that impression from.
“I hope he’s right.”
The 40-year-old, however, does not think so. “It hasn’t been fun,” he told reporters late on Friday. “It’s a beautiful place, the weather is incredible, but I wouldn’t say I’m motivating the team right now.”
Vasseur suggested Hamilton’s “undriveable” comment was over the top.
“Hamilton is suffering,” he told Sky Italia, “but in the race simulation he was fast.
“I understand the difficulty, maybe it (the comment) was extreme but it’s the adrenaline of the car. Lewis also had a very strong run on the soft tires, so the car wasn’t as horrible as he said on the radio.”
Ferrari is famous for coming down hard on drivers who care to criticize the team or the car. “The comments about the car aren’t a big deal to me,” Vasseur insists, “as long as they get back in the truck and we have a constructive meeting.
“That’s the most important thing,” the Frenchman added. “The balance is not perfect yet, that’s true. But I think that’s true for the others too.”
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher, whose brother Michael won five consecutive titles in red, thinks the pressure at Ferrari right now is ramping up to boiling point.
“History has shown us that you won’t be forgiven if things don’t go well,” he told Sky Deutschland. “But if victories don’t come, it’s not the fault of one person.”