Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has defended Lewis Hamilton’s early-season form in an X-rated rant following another disappointing weekend for the seven-time world champion at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Hamilton qualified and finished the race in seventh at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, and was comprehensively outperformed by his team-mate Charles Leclerc, who took third to claim Ferrari’s first grand prix podium of the season.
Aside from taking pole for and winning the Sprint at the second round of the season in China, Hamilton has endured an extremely underwhelming start to life with Ferrari following his blockbuster switch from Mercedes.
The 40-year-old Brit cut a despondent figure after Sunday’s race, describing it as “horrible” and predicting that the rest of his season is “going to be painful”.
Reacting to Hamilton’s performance and comments, Vasseur said: “I will be 2000 per cent behind him. I will give him support and we will start from tomorrow morning to try to find solutions and reasons and to work on it early in the morning.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Highlights of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“But honestly, I am not too worried. If you have a look on what he did in China or what he did in the race in Bahrain last week or even on the first part of the session in this weekend, the potential is there for sure.
“We just have to adjust the balance because we are, collectively, Lewis and us, we are struggling with the balance of his car and [how] he is working the tyres.
“It’s a kind of negative spot but I think the potential of the car is there and we will try to solve that.”
Vasseur snaps at notion of ‘dramatic’ change in Hamilton form
Vasseur was further probed on Hamilton’s performance by the journalists in attendance at his post-race briefing, and eventually snapped back.
Asked how Hamilton’s form had fallen off so “dramatically”, Vasseur replied: “It’s not dramatically. We did five races so far. I know that you want to have the big headlines tomorrow that ‘Fred said this’.
“But this is f****** b******t. At the end of the day, we are in competition. You have ups and downs.
“When we have up, we are not world champions. When we have down, we are not nowhere. It’s just a competition.”
Fred Vasseur insists he is “not too worried” about Hamilton
As he continued to defend his driver, Vasseur suggested Hamilton’s performances are being analysed differently to those of reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
The Dutchman struggled to sixth in Bahrain a week earlier, before taking pole and finishing second to Oscar Piastri on Sunday in Jeddah.
While Verstappen is third in the drivers’ standings, just 12 points off leader Piastri, Hamilton is already 68 points behind the Australian in seventh place.
Vasseur said: “I’m not sure that you draw the same conclusion with Max last week when he was seventh. It is like it is. The competition is tight.
“You have 10 cars and a couple of tenths. Have a look at Max. He won in Japan. He finished 30 seconds behind Piastri in Bahrain, and in Saudi Arabia he was P2 and had pole position.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lewis Hamilton led from start to finish as he claimed his first victory with Ferrari in the Sprint at the Chinese Grand Prix.
“We just have to stay calm. You can do whatever you want. I don’t want to worry for you. At least for us as a team, we have to work step by step.
“I think it paid off last year to do hundredths of seconds and hundredths of seconds and we need to keep the same approach.
“I will never be the guy who says we are world champions or we are nowhere. We are a team. We are struggling on the weekend. We have good results on the weekend. It’s just that we have to improve step by step and stay calm.”
‘Not a transitional season for Hamilton’
A recurring theme during the opening weeks of the season has been Hamilton speaking about how challenging he is finding it adapting to Ferrari’s car and systems after 12 years with Mercedes.
Despite that, Vasseur insists he does not consider 2025 to be a “transitional” campaign for the Brit, while also insisting that he sees Hamilton’s frustration as a positive.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
Lewis Hamilton says he was grateful for reaching Q3 and taking seventh in qualifying at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
“It’s not a transitional time, but for sure he’s down because when you finish the race in sixth your team-mate is on the podium,” Vassuer said.
“Honestly, I take it as positive that Lewis is down because if he was happy with this, it wouldn’t be normal.
“He’s a racer, he’s a competitor, he wants to get the best from what he has and for sure he’s disappointed.
“Now we have to work together to react together, and it will be the only way to move forward.”
Formula 1 heads to Miami for a Sprint weekend on May 2-4, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – No contract, cancel anytime
