DECEMBER 30, 2024

Vasseur not worried about Hamilton’s form

Frédéric Vasseur showed total confidence in Lewis Hamilton’s ability to return to his winning ways with the Scuderia, during his traditional media Christmas dinner in Maranello, earlier this week. The Frenchman also revealed that the veteran driver had been dreaming of a move to Ferrari “for at least 20 years”, adding that “there’s tremendous respect between Charles and Lewis” and that’s why he doesn’t expect any issues in this new partnership.

Vasseur started off by admitting that, “it wasn’t difficult to convince Lewis of the validity of the Ferrari option for his future. In 2023 we won more races than Mercedes, so it wasn’t complicated to convince him that he would find a good project at Ferrari.”

That’s when the Scuderia Team Principal revealed that, “he had been thinking about driving for Ferrari for at least 20 years, I remember we were already talking about it in 2004”, when Vasseur entered Hamilton in the European F. 3 Championship, “but sometimes it’s also a question of coincidences or the alignment of the planets. It happened that he was on the market and that Ferrari had a place available to offer him, so we started discussing it a year ago and it wasn’t difficult to convince him”.

A lot has been said about Hamilton’s fluctuating form in 2024, as he swung between demonstrations of tremendous brilliance with really poor performances. Vasseur saw that but thinks he understands the underlying reasons behind that: “I don’t want to point the finger at Lewis or Mercedes, but I’m convinced that the situation they found themselves in wasn’t easy to manage. I think he wasn’t in perfect mental shape, and in Brazil it was quite evident, but in the last two races he expressed himself very well, so I’m not worried at all”.

Moving on to the relationship between his 2025 drivers, Vasseur made it clear that, “they have enormous mutual respect”, revealing that, “they know each other well and have been talking for months. I would also add that it is much better to fight for first and second place or for 19th and 20th place, by which I mean that it is a good sign for a team to have these types of discussions.”

Still, even with confidence on his future driver’s form, Vasseur expects that Hamilton’s mission, “won’t be easy, but Lewis is certainly not a rookie, he comes with a wealth of experience, and I am not worried about this at all.” In conclusion the Frenchman explained that, “in the tests in Bahrain, he will have to assimilate many things, but we have the advantage of being able to work on the simulator, where he will be able to try both race and qualifying simulations and be well prepared with the management of the controls on the steering wheel. I do not think this is the biggest challenge that awaits us.”