Lewis Hamilton has backed his Ferrari team principal, Fred Vasseur, as the best person to lead the team, but believes the leadership structure above and around the Frenchman could be overhauled.
Hamilton was speaking before this weekend’s Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, with the race being held at the Sepang circuit but branded as a replacement for the meeting that was cancelled earlier in the season because of the war in the Middle East. Ferrari go into the race with Vasseur under scrutiny, given the team have been underperforming and with the former Red Bull team principal Christian Horner having stated last week that taking over at Ferrari would be his dream job.
Speculation over Vasseur’s future had reached such a level that Ferrari issued a statement on Tuesday saying they had full confidence in the Frenchman, which was echoed by Hamilton on Thursday in Sepang. “Structure is very important and so is stability and everyone rowing in the same direction is key in any business,” he said. “There often seems to be a lot of focus on one individual and one role here. Fred is a fantastic leader and he really is the guy to take this team in the right direction.”
However, above Vasseur at Ferrari are the executive chair, John Elkann, and Benedetto Vigna, the chief executive officer, and Hamilton suggested the broader management could be addressed, referencing his experience with Toto Wolff at Mercedes. “There is a structure that has been there for some time and whether or not that needs looking at moving forwards? There are obviously also people above Fred and it is not about one person,” he said.
“There are changes I would make but I am not going to talk about what those are. Toto is in a different position to Fred. The structure is a lot different.”
Hamilton took his first win for Ferrari at Barcelona this year and his teammate, Charles Leclerc, won at Silverstone. Although they are second in the constructors’ championship, they are 160 points behind Mercedes and Hamilton trails the title leader, Kimi Antonelli, by 103 points.
While Ferrari started the season strongly with what was considered one of the strongest chassis on the grid their performance has dropped off as McLaren and Red Bull have developed their cars, increasing the pressure on Vasseur. Hamilton conceded he felt the scrutiny and criticism around the team was disheartening.
“It is frustrating to see all the negativity. You see other teams making mistakes and no one says too much about it. We make the same mistake, and we know we are not perfect, but it is 10 times worse for Ferrari.
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“I don’t read all the stuff, so it has zero effect on me, but when I come into the room I can see it definitely affects individuals on the team.
“They don’t know what is happening behind closed doors and they don’t know how hard everyone is working and it is all done by assumptions and opinions.
“We are going to focus on doing the best job we can regardless of what is written. I knew it wasn’t going to be in my second year [at Ferrari] where we would be where we want to be, but I am hoping and praying that we will get there.”
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