Ferrari team boss Fred Vasseur insists he will always support Lewis Hamilton, despite the seven-time world champion’s difficult start to the season. In his first five Grands Prix with Ferrari, Hamilton has generally been outperformed by teammate Charles Leclerc – with the exception of a single sprint victory in Shanghai. Vasseur aims to silence critics who claim Hamilton has lost his form.
In the regular Grands Prix, Lewis Hamilton has yet to finish higher than fifth place for Ferrari. During the recent Saudi Arabian GP, the 40-year-old Brit crossed the finish line in seventh place, conceding over thirty seconds to Leclerc, who secured Ferrari’s first podium of 2025 with his third-place finish. After the race weekend, Hamilton appeared dejected, joking after qualifying that he needed a ‘brain transplant’ to tame the SF-25.
However, Vasseur is convinced that Hamilton will find his groove sooner or later. The Frenchman has a good relationship with the seven-time world champion and played a key role in his transfer to Scuderia. “I will continue to support Hamilton two thousand percent,” Vasseur told the media in Jeddah. “I always stand behind him, and tomorrow we will immediately start looking for solutions. Honestly, I’m not too worried. The potential is definitely there – just look at what he did in China. We just need to adjust the balance, as both Lewis and the team are struggling. Of course, it’s a negative situation, but the car definitely has potential, and we need to exploit that.”
‘This is absolute nonsense’
A reporter present suggested that Hamilton’s form has dramatically declined, but Vasseur would have none of it. “It’s not dramatic,” he snapped. “We’ve raced five times so far. I know you’re looking for headlines: ‘Fred said this.’ But this is absolute nonsense – of course, we’re competitive. Everyone has ups and downs. That’s part of competition.”
“It’s not as if you drew the same conclusions when Max Verstappen finished sixth in Bahrain last week,” Vasseur continued. “It is what it is – the competition is fierce. Ten cars are all within a few tenths of each other. Verstappen could win in Japan, but finished thirty seconds behind Oscar Piastri in Bahrain,” he reiterated. “We just need to stay calm and take it step by step. I’m not worried at all. Besides, I’m never going to claim that we’re already world champions, or that we’re not participating at all. As a team, we had a tough weekend, but there’s also plenty to be positive about.”
